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THE PEARL 

ITS STORY, ITS CHARM, 
AND ITS VALUE 



BY 

W. R. CATTELLE 

AUTHOR OF 

"PRECIOUS STONES" 



WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 




PHILADELPHIA & LONDON 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 

MDCCCCVII 



USRARYofCONORFSsJ 
Two Oooles Received J 

SEP 23 i90f 

Copyright Entry 

Culs A XXc., No, 

f 8.1 SSI 

COPY 3. 



K^ S* 









••:■: 



Copyright, 1907 
By J. B. Lippincott Company 

Published September, 1907 



Electrotyped and printed by J. B. Lippincott Company 
The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, U. S. A. 



7^3 




H. M. gUEEN ALEXANDRA AND HER PEARLS 



NOTE 

In these pages the story of the pearl is told 
from its birth and growth under tropic seas, 
through the search for it by dark skinned di- 
vers of the Orient and its journeyings by the 
hands of men who traffic in precious things, 
until it becomes finally the cherished familiar 
of the great. Historical and traditional allu- 
sions, the sentiment and superstitions, the 
romance of ancient and noble associations, 
drawn to it through the ages, are garnered here 
and to them added the more prosaic facts which 
a merchant's experience suggests, to enable 
lovers of the dainty sea-gem to discriminate. 
The qualities which make some pearls of great 
value and the imperfections which render 
others less valuable are described in detail, 
that owners and buyers may appreciate at their 
true value the gems they have or would pur- 
chase and the market price of all kinds is given. 
Means for the detection of imitations are 
included. 

Long time has been given to microscopic 
research and though much remains to be learned 
of the genesis of the pearl, it is hoped that 



NOTE 

something of value has been added to the 
knowledge of Nature's wonderful and curious 
processes whereby through the humblest she 
makes a jewel fit to adorn the most beautiful 
of her creatures — woman. 

My thanks are due Messrs. Combes & Van 
Roden of Philadelphia for the loan of the 
original photographs from which were made the 
reproductions of the portraits of Queen Alex- 
andra, The Marchioness of Londonderry, Coun- 
tess Torby and Princess LazarerT, which will, I 
trust, be of great interest to lovers of pearls: 
also to Mr. Ludwig Stross for much valuable 
information about Oriental pearl fisheries. 

W. R. C. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

At the Bottom of the Deep Blue Sea 13 

A Pearl of Legend 25 

Antiquity of the Pearl 39 

The Fashion of Pearls 69 

Varieties 89 

Color 101 

Imperfections in 

Genesis of the Pearl 127 

Methods of Fishing 177 

Habitat of the Pearl Oyster 199 

Pearl Fisheries 211 

Price 275 

Imitation and Doctored Pearls 295 

Facts and Fancies 311 

Pearls in Literature 335 

Glossary 3 63 

General Characteristics of Pearls and Shells 

from the Various Fisheries 369 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

H. M. Queen Alexandra and Her Pearls 

Frontispiece 

The Rajah of Dholpur 21 

Whose pearls have been valued at S7, 500,000 

Princess Abamalek Lazareff, nee Demidoff. ... 70 

From the painting by Vitelleschi 

Varying Forms of Pearls 83 

Panama Pearl-shell, Showing Mud-blisters, 

Borers, and Pearl 92 

Tuamotu Pearl-shell 127 

Australian Pearl-shell 129 

Venezuelan Pearl-shell with Pearl Attached . 131 

Manila Pearl-shell with the Lip Conserved . . . 144 

Mississippi Niggerhead Pearl Mussel 146 

Venezuelan Pearl-shell Showing Baroque .... 161 

Native Australian Pearl-divers 1S8 . 

East Indian Pearl-divers Resting 215 / 

Pearl-fishing in the Mississippi River 262 - 

The Marchioness of Londonderry 283 ' 

Countess Torby 326 ' 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE 
DEEP BLUE SEA 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE 
DEEP BLUE SEA 

THE sea in all her moods has a strange 
fascination for the children of the dry- 
land. The rumble and thunder of her never 
ending procession of rolling breakers, rising 
and falling, tumbling over the sands, to race 
hissing back to shelter under the curling crest 
of an eternal successor ; the mad recurring dash 
which cannot be discouraged, of great waters 
upon unyielding rocks whose grim faces smile at 
the spume fountains falling back upon them; 
the wash and mutter of rocky shoals ; the suck 
and bellow of her caverns and the monotone 
she chants, heedless of hearers to the ages; all 
these charm the hearts of men and bring them 
into the fellowship of spirits they feel, but 
cannot understand. For the moods of the sea 
and the ways of the wind are akin to the heart 
of a man. His eyes dance with the nicker of 
light in the path of the sun over watery wastes ; 
his breast heaves in unison with the multi- 

13 



THE PEARL 

tudinous swellings of the sea ; he finds peace in 
the slumber of her calms and exults in her mad 
race before the drive of the tempest, but he 
seldom thinks below the surface and knows 
little of the things she hides in her deeps. 
Yet a world lives there, very strange and 
full of enchantments. Sheltered under the 
breasts of the sea and undisturbed by the 
furies of the upper world, myriads of living 
creatures, graceful, beautiful, wonderful, tra- 
verse the peaceful depths. In the vast and 
fathomless solitudes, things grow and take on 
form, meet for the eyes of the gods. In ever- 
lasting touch with soft currents, trees of coral 
grow from rocky beds and finny tribes of every 
shape and hue glide in and out among their 
fantastic branches. Water covering all, on 
hills, plateaus, shelving stretches, sandy bars 
and rocky shoals; in valleys, chasms and even 
in the dread abysses, are things as strange to 
man as Jupiter or Saturn holds; weird as the 
creatures of our dreams; uncanny as the pic- 
tures a riotous imagination paints and some as 
beautiful. 

Near the shore and a few miles out, where the 
14 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 

bottom of the sea is but a few fathoms deep and 
where man can go and come and live, there are 
among other marvellous creations, shells of 
wonderful structure and beautiful to look upon. 
One by one these have been discovered during 
past ages by the adventurous and for their 
usefulness or beauty have awakened the desire 
of those who dwell upon the earth. The chank, 
the sacred shell of the Hindus, has been used 
by the priests of Buddha for centuries as a 
horn to call the faithful. Shankar the De- 
stroyer, of Hindu mythology, and Vishnu, each 
hold a chank shell in one of their hands. 

The shell whorl usually runs from left to 
right, sometimes it is found with the whorl 
reversed and these were so highly regarded by 
Hindus, Cingalese and Chinese that in old 
times they were sold for their weight in gold. 
Even now they bring a good price in the eastern 
markets. They are kept in the pagodas of 
China to hold the sacred oil : the priests of Cey- 
lon administer medicine by them. In Dacca 
the chank is cut into armlets and anklets for 
Hindu women upon whose persons they are 
left after death. The delicate pink cameos 

*5 



THE PEARL 

carved from the Queen Conch have delighted 
feminine eyes of almost every race. The Pearly 
Nautilus decks many a dainty lady's table 
and is wrought into a thousand quaint conceits. 
The silky byssus of the Pinna has been woven 
into fabrics of such fineness as to be thought 
worthy of acceptance by Popes and princes. 

Before Europe knew of their existence, the 
people of China and Japan, the Maoris of New 
Zealand, the Indians of our Pacific coast and the 
brown skinned natives of far-off islands of the 
Southern Seas, were delighting themselves with 
the magnificent coloring and iridescence of the 
Haliotis even as ancient Greece and Rome made 
ornaments from the "Venus Ear-shell," as 
they called it, brought from the ruder coasts 
and islands further west. In these later days 
the costly outer garments of proud dames are 
ornamented with buttons cut from the same 
resplendent shell. But of all the beautiful 
things old ocean pays as tribute to the adven- 
turous spirit of man, the pearl-oyster and the 
gem found sometimes in it are most precious. 

From unknown times when man discovered 
them until now, mother-of-pearl shells and 

16 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 

their pearly treasures have held desire con- 
stant and the eyes of modern queens brighten 
when the opening of the gift casket reveals a 
string of these spheres of beauty just as eyes 
did in the far-off Indies thousands of years ago. 
When Europe was a land of barbarians and 
America an unknown country of savages, 
dusky fingers that held the life and destiny of 
millions, toyed lovingly with pearls, even as 
now the favored few who enter the sanctum 
sanctorum of fortune, pride themselves in the 
possession of them and find pleasure for cloyed 
desire, in every addition to their store. 

In all ages, pearls have been the social insignia 
of rank among the highly civilized. No other 
gem was so abundantly used for adornment by 
the princes of the east. Above great diamonds 
from the mines of India or glowing rubies from 
Burmah, the ocean gem became peerless among 
the ancient nations of Asia and as their power 
began to wane and the tide of empire swept 
westward, there went with it the love of pearls. 
The rulers of Rome when she was Empress of 
the world sought pearls, so also have the rich 

and powerful of every nation as it rose to affiu- 

17 



THE PEARL 

ence, and now in this new western star of 
Empire the men who hold the vast wealth of 
these United States in their hands, when they 
place their consorts on the last plane of social 
eminence, buy pearls. 

Before the machine-like system of modern 
industry had combined ownership and seized 
the vast natural reservoirs which hold the dia- 
monds of Africa, and brought the output to a 
known average yield of so many carats to so 
many loads, and established the cost of mining, 
washing, shipping and marketing, separately 
or together, to the fraction of a penny, there 
was a fascination in the hunt for diamonds 
there, the charm of which drew thousands to 
the fields. 

From the discovery of them as baubles in 
the hands of children and the Hottentots, 
or plastered in the mud walls of Boer farm- 
houses, through the search for them along 
the Vaal River, to the time where findings led 
men to the kopjes, which capped the great 
chimneys of diamond bearing clay, where they 
staked and worked their individual claims, the 
ever present hope of finding a royal gem among 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 

the small stones which formed the every-day 
yield, gave edge to appetite and the spur to 
toil, and the stories of fortunes diverted from 
one man to another by the lapse of a few 
minutes at the beginning or expiration of a 
lease, or by the line separating the mining 
rights of one from another, read like fairy tales. 
More exciting yet is the search for them 
when, as in Brazil, they lie scattered over the 
river beds where one man hunts in vain and an- 
other by chance stumbles upon a pocket full, 
or as in India, where one must dig for them 
blindly into detrital matter ten or twelve feet 
under a later covering of earth. Who has not 
felt the stir of it while reading of miners in 
Brazil using diamonds worth a king's ransom 
as counters in their games of chance, or of a 
naked Hindu, emaciated and diseased carrying 
about his person, wrapped in a bit of soiled 
cloth, a gem found by chance which the richest 
prince of India would covet. So also do the 
tales of rubies brought from Death's Valley of 
Burmah renew within us the glow which fired 
the heart of youth when we read of Aladdin 
and his lamp. 

19 



THE PEARL 

But none of these are so redolent of romance 
as the story of the pearl. Beneath the rolling 
of the sea, where the waves pace softly and 
restlessly like caged lions, or lift themselves 
roaring to answer the voice of the storm ; where 
at times the water lies green and placid under 
burning skies ; at times, lashed by tornado and 
monsoon, becoming a seething caldron of black 
perdition; where spice-laden vessels sail, and 
where in the old days, privateers and pirates 
lay in wait for prey, there, at the bottom of the 
sea, unruffled by storm or pirate, unmindful of 
sun and calm, myriads of delicate creatures toil 
ceaselessly to strew old ocean's bed with gems. 
The chaste spheres with which you toy, while 
counting up the cost of hanging them round 
some fair neck, at one time lay fathoms deep, 
the ocean rolling over them. Dusky fishermen, 
at risk of life, brought them up and turbanned 
merchants gave great sums of money to own 
them; ships carried them, and dealers in 
precious things handled, sorted, examined and 
matched them, ere they came to rest in fes- 
tooned rows within the velvet covers your 
jeweller opens to you. 




IHK. K.\|AH OF DHOLPUR 
Whose pearls were valued at >7,?>:,ico 



AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 

On almost every tropical sea that washes a 
shore near the equator, when the time of 
storm is over, boats ride over the shallows, and 
men dive from them for the pearl oyster 
as they have done for ages. Black slaves for 
Arab masters in the Red Sea and the Per- 
sian Gulf: Tamil and Singhalese in the In- 
dian waters: Polynesians about the islands 
of the South Seas: Indians and other natives 
along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of tropical 
America, and not a few white men in "dress" 
off the coasts of Australia. Your pearls have 
seen the dusky man-fish come silently and 
swiftly from the world of air to wrench the 
gaping shells that held them, from their anchor- 
age. It may be your pearl lay twenty fathoms 
deep in the clear water of some lonely atoll in 
the great Pacific, among branching coral, and 
found its way from water's solitudes to the 
light of the Sun and admiring eyes by the hand 
of a bright-eyed Polynesian. It may have come 
from Egypt or the Indies, from Australia or 
Mexico; but from whatever quarter of the 
globe it came and by whom, it was born and 
grew somewhere at the bottom of the sea. 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

Long ago, ere the great Nations of Europe 
came into existence; before Rome was, or 
Greece had made history: when the power of 
the Earth dwelt in the lands of the Sun and 
was for good or evil in the hands of princes, 
there lived in Travancore a ruler of renown. 
Of those who came from the north, he with his 
followers had subjugated the fierce native tribes 
inhabiting the country for many miles along 
the seacoast and back to the mountainous 
interior. Over all, to the utmost bounds of his 
territory, the land was fertile and very beauti- 
ful. Along the shores, but a short distance from 
the ocean, were numerous shallow stretches of 
water, formed by the meeting of the inland 
streams with the swift current of the sea which 
there sweeps the coast. In them fish abounded, 
yet were they free from the dangers of the outer 
waters, so that young and old could there 
disport themselves without fear. Though the 
tropic heat was often great there were no 

25 



THE PEARL 

parched and barren wastes in the land, for the 
rains were many and the streams which ran 
to the sea from the mountains were numerous. 
Everywhere luxuriant verdure swayed to 
breezes that played to and fro over the rolling 
lowlands and about the hillsides, now coming 
from the water and now from the mountains. 
Coffee, rice, the palm, cocoa-nut, the areca-nut, 
the pepper, tamarind, and other tropical fruits 
and trees grew in rank abundance, and huge 
forest timbers sheltered many noble creatures 
of the wild. 

At the first coming of this prince, fighting was 
constant and bloody. The hill tribes, more 
war-like than those of many lands, made fre- 
quent descents from their fastnesses, seeking by 
every ruse of barbarous warfare to exterminate 
the intruder. But this man was wary and 
alert. Possessing the confidence of his followers, 
they obeyed him with unquestioning obedience. 
Quick to move, merciless in his reprisals, he 
was soon feared by all the surrounding country 
and as it became known that he was also just 
and generous, peace presently followed. 

Then did he seek to establish his kingdom 
26 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

wisely and well. He encouraged his subjects to 
cultivate the land, to fish the waters, and to 
trade with those w T ho came by ship and over- 
land bringing all manner of things for barter. 

Though he and his people w r ere devout 
believers in the Veda, yet did he tolerate the 
faith of others, and considered the low-born, 
for Brahmanism had not yet established the 
extremes of caste which came later. He himself 
was a Kshattriya but he ruled the Brahmans 
and w r ould not permit injustice to the Sudras, 
therefore was he as a god among his people. 

And this prince was good to look upon. Tall 
and straight as a tree of the forest, the fine 
lines of his grave impassive face were made 
alive by the light of eyes keen as an eagle's, 
inscrutable as those of a lion when he looks 
beyond. 

One son only had he, for the others had all 
fallen in battle. The son was like the sire, and 
the father's heart was knit to him as steel when 
it is welded. 

Now the time came w r hen it was good that 
the young prince should marry, for he was 
man-grown and had been invested with the 

27 



THE PEARL 

sacrificial cord. So the prince his father said to 
him, "My son, thou standest alone to guard the 
manes of thy fathers. It is meet that the sons 
of my son be alive upon the earth, that when the 
time is come I die in peace and return to the 
place from whence I came, in confidence. I 
will find for thee a wife." And the young 
prince answered, "Let it be as my lord 
wills." 

Now there was in the country beyond the 
hills, on the eastern coast of India, a prince 
whose daughter was famed for her beauty and 
he also was Kshattriya. To him the ruler of 
Travancore sent certain of those who were near 
him, and a wise priest in whom he had great 
confidence, to treat with the father of the maid. 
And these when they had arrived, made haste 
to do their lord's bidding, nor was it difficult to 
obtain his desire, for the prince of Travancore 
was in great repute. So as soon as could be, 
the maid became the wife of the heir of 
Travancore. 

Report had not lied concerning the beauty of 
the girl, and such other qualities had she that 
the heart of her husband melted to her and 
28 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

became as the gold of a jewel when it holds a 
ruby most precious. 

In due time a son was born to them, and the 
father and his sire and all the people with them 
were exceeding glad, for said they, "Now is 
wisdom and power established on the throne of 
Travancore and a son's son will guard the name 
of our lord." 

Now when the princess was a maid in the 
land of her father, a Rover from the coast of 
Kandy had greatly desired her, and when she 
was carried away to Travancore he was very 
wroth. It was told that he would seek ven- 
geance, but another year passed and another 
son came and both the children and the mother 
thrived. 

But one day, when many sea-boats lay 
within the harbor of a city of Travancore where 
much trading was done with men who came 
from far-off countries and when multitudes were 
gathered there, it chanced that the princess 
passed by the market-place. Suddenly, a great 
number of them that were there from foreign 
shores, gathered together, and drawing swords, 
rushed upon the guards which accompanied 

29 



THE PEARL 

her. These, with the bearers they overpowered, 
and ere the bewildered populace knew the 
meaning of the tumult, the princess was dragged 
from her attendants and hurried to a boat 
waiting and ready to sail. Immediately this 
glided swiftly toward the sea followed by many 
others manned by ruffians who had lately 
mingled with the men on shore as peaceful 
traders. They were followers of the Kandy 
Rover. 

In a very little while, the King, with the 
trusted priest of his household, the prince and 
many picked men of the King's body-guard 
rode furiously to the water-side. The face of 
the King was very stern, but only in the flash- 
ings of his eyes could be seen the unrelenting 
vengeance which moved him. Quietly he gave 
orders to man his ships of war. Then it was 
found that every one of them had been damaged. 
Not until the sailors made ready to sail were 
the hindrances observable, and in no case was 
the evil great, or so that it could not be pres- 
ently repaired, for fearing discovery the doers 
of it sought only to delay the sailing of the 
King's ships, as the ships of the Rover were 
30 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

swift, and after they were out of the harbor, 
Travancore had none which could overtake 
them. Then was the wrath of the King terrible 
to look upon. 

Now while the prince and his followers chafed, 
and the dismayed populace watched the work 
of the men who sought to make the boats ready 
to sail, the King filled them with the fiercest of 
his soldiers, being resolved that if the pirate 
escaped him on the sea he would follow him 
to his lair with swift and overwhelming ven- 
geance. While these things were being done, the 
Rover passed out to the open sea and in sight 
of all the people turned his prows to the south. 

Then the Brahman, standing where the 
lapping waters encircled his feet, stretched 
forth his hands toward the white sails as they 
spread to the west wind and called upon Shankar 
to destroy the despoiler. Immediately the wind 
died out and the ships were becalmed. Then 
the heart of the King swelled with fierce joy. 

At his orders all the lighter boats were filled 
with men and oars were provided that they 
might row to the attack, and the young prince 
stood in the front of the fastest one. But while 

31 



THE PEARL 

the people whetted themselves for battle, the 
Brahman still stood and prayed. And presently 
the air became thick. Though no clouds 
appeared the sky faded rapidly from sight, and 
the sun could no more be seen and the light of 
it was as the color of fire in thick smoke only. 
Darkness as of chaos and a silence like that 
of a dead world encompassed the people, and 
a great dread gripped them. Suddenly there 
came from the sea a breath of sighing broken 
by sobs very heartrending, and this was followed 
by the sound of churning and lashing water. 
Soon a furious wind swept the coast in gusts 
which rested only that they might gather 
strength to rage, as the rush of rioters is 
momentarily stayed between whiles. And the 
black air, writhing like smoke, was driven 
hither and thither, and shaken by the din of 
thunder. Fierce lightnings pierced the darkness 
and in passing gave lurid glimpses of the sea's 
frenzy and the wind-swept earth. But though 
the storm raged so that the roaring sickened the 
hearts of the people, the Brahman remained un- 
moved, his hands stretched toward the sea where 
the Rover and his fleet were when it began. 
32 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

Presently the wind passed, and the people 
looking seaward saw that there were no ships 
there, but the foam of the surf was black with 
wreckage, and tossing in it were the forms of 
dead men. The Rover and his followers had 
all perished. But the joy of the King and his 
people was savage, and their thoughts were 
black, for the princess was with them that were 
destroyed. Then the people made haste to 
spread themselves along the coast to watch if 
perchance the gods might cast her ashore alive, 
but no living thing appeared, neither was her 
body seen. 

Now while these things were being done, 
great clouds, very thick and black, gathered, 
and rolling together, poured themselves in 
torrents into the sea. So thickly did the rain 
fall that the waves were beaten down and the 
sea became as a threshing-floor on which the 
rain fell white and hissing. The Brahman 
watching, said "Behold! the Heavens weep," 
and turning, he went straightway to the temple. 

For many hours thereafter did the torrents fall 
and all Travancore mourned, the lamentations of 
the people being very loud, for the King and his 
3 33 



THE PEARL 

son were much beloved and it was known that 
the prince was sorely distressed, and the more so 
that his sword must needs be idle for there were 
none left upon whom he could take vengeance. 
Now when the elements were at peace again, 
the King gave orders that certain fishermen of 
his people who were expert divers, should 
explore the bottom of the sea where the ships 
of the Rover were destroyed. One of these 
discovered the body of the princess and brought 
it to shore. And when they prepared it for 
burial, the women found fastened upon one of 
the hands a shell-fish, the two shells of which 
had closed upon a finger when it fell between 
them as they gaped. And when the shells 
were pried apart, there rolled from between 
them a round bone, white and shining, yet of a 
luster so soft and beautiful that no man had 
seen the like. And the Brahman when he saw 
it said, "Herein are the tears of Heaven which 
fell into the sea congealed and have become a 
gem which is beyond price." And he named it 
" Pearl," and carried it to the King. Then the 
King after he had heard the story of it, sent for 
the chief man of them that worked in gold and 

34 



A PEARL OF LEGEND 

commanded him that he make for the pearl a 
setting most precious, and when it was done he 
gave it to the prince his son saying, "Above 
all things let this be first among the jewels of 
Travancore for-ever. " And the prince when 
he looked upon it said, "The beauty of it is 
like the brightness of her eyes when they veiled 
themselves before my passion," and he prized 
it more than all the diamonds and rubies in 
his treasure-house. 

From that day, when the fishermen dived 
for the chank, they sought also for shells like 
unto that in which the King's pearl was found, 
and after great rains many more pearls were 
brought from the depths of the sea, and fisher- 
men following the coast, found them on the 
shoals between India and Kandy in great plenty. 
These were carried to the King, for no man 
dared to sell them, yet did the King reward the 
finders very liberally. So the store of them in 
the King's treasury grew, and for that there 
were no gems like them in all the earth, the 
fame of them spread, and travellers came from 
many and far-off lands to look upon the pearls 
of Travancore. 

35 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

How long the pearl has been used as a jewel 
is unknown. It is seen all through the pages 
of history, from the long ago days when records 
were inscribed on the leaves of plants, to the 
rapid-fire prints of to-day, which unceasingly 
scatter to myriads the knowledge of things as 
they occur. 

Back of history, pearls loom everywhere in 
the mists of tradition like delicate but imperish- 
able orbs of beauty set in the smoulder of burned 
out days and passions. And wherever their 
tranquil light attracts the eye of imagination, 
the ghosts of the great are seen, for pearls lie 
in the hair of royalty and clasp the fair necks 
of Queens. Upon them shine the eyes of 
turbanned princes who valued them above the 
blood and life of thousands of subjects. Shades 
of imperious fingers, long since fallen to the 
elements, toy with them: they deck the spec- 
tral gatherings of the mighty in all lands and 
ages, and there is no dream of song or story 

39 



THE PEARL 

which does not hold them among the chief 
enchantments. As the fair moon hangs from 
the brow of night when she broods over lonely- 
waters, so does the pearl shine in the shades of 
the ages. 

In this country abundant evidence exists that 
before the advent of the white man, or of the 
red-skins as we know them, the aborigines, 
from the cold rise of the Mississippi to the glades 
of Florida, used them for their adornment. In 
savage wilds, and on coasts that knew not the 
sight of ships or other shores, copper-skinned 
natives treasured the glistening things they 
found in the mollusks of the sea-shoals and 
inland streams. Quantities of pearls have been 
found in the Indian mounds, many of them 
loose, others strung for necklaces and wristlets, 
some mounted in quaint and primitive fashion, 
all showing that in the days of unbroken forests 
and swarming game and roving tribes of 
untrammeled savages, in the tepees of the 
braves, their queens wore pearls even as they 
are worn now by fairer successors in the palaces 
reared where once were forests and camping- 
grounds. In those days the savage lords of the 
40 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

undivided earth knew nothing of whirring 
lathes and drills; of hardened points of steel 
turning with lightning rapidity and unerring- 
precision. Slowly they burned a way through 
the gem with hot copper wire, destroying 
thereby with ruthless ignorance the delicate 
beauty of jewels fit for royalty. To them the 
slender prongs of gold with which the modern 
jeweller holds the lustrous balls, uncovered and 
in safety, were unknown. Instead, the savage 
set them in holes bored in the teeth of animals, 
possibly to enhance the relics of a great fight 
with some fierce beast that succumbed finally 
to his prowess: possibly to add beauty to the 
grim reminders of her lord's valor when he 
hung them round the neck of a favored mate. 
The Indian of this continent was much more 
primitive in the art of the jeweller than in the 
manufacture of implements for war and the 
chase. Gaudy colors extracted from plants and 
minerals appealed more to his unthinking eye 
than a chaste form of beauty. With these he 
could stain his blankets, record on skins of 
slaughtered animals his deeds, or paint in 
hideous signs upon his face the malignancy of 

41 



THE PEARL 

war. His time and thought and ingenuity 
were given to things which would contribute to 
his master passion and glorify its deeds. The 
scalps of his enemies, the skins of animals he 
slaughtered, the feathers of birds that fell to 
his unerring arrow, the teeth of bears and 
mountain lions slain in desperate encounters, 
these were his jewels. Nor was his sexual 
instinct sufficiently refined to enthrone his mate. 
She was his slave, and her reward for toil was 
pride in his deeds and glory. He knew little 
of the tender homage which brings gifts and 
lays them at the feet of woman. Instinctively 
he made a setting for his pearls of bears teeth, 
that they might carry the scent of blood and 
tell the story of his conquest. Nevertheless, 
among these rude tribes of wolfish savages, 
sequestered from the touch of other people more 
refined, the modest pearl found favor, and in 
it they unconsciously paid tribute to one of 
the purest forms of beauty. But even this 
recognition must have been the growth of years, 
possibly of ages, for not until the understanding 
of worth has become general among a people is 
value established, and only things valuable are 

42 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

stored. As desire for a thing for its inherent 
qualities spreads, there is added a larger number 
of those who seek to possess it for the profit 
they can make in supplying that desire. Not 
many years ago, fishermen along the streams of 
remote parts of Kentucky had no eye for the 
beauty of a pearl, and no knowledge that men 
and women lived who prized them. If while 
fishing, the fisherman's hook fell between the 
gaping valves of a mollusk it was immediately 
seized. The disgusted angler thereupon angrily 
pulled the nuisance out, and if upon disengaging 
the hook from the bivalve, he found within the 
shells a pearl, it was immediately tossed back 
into the stream for luck; for the beginning of 
a day's sport with a catch of that kind was ill- 
luck and the fates could only be appeased by 
the finding of a pearl, or a "mussel egg" as 
he would call it, in the mollusk, and its return 
to the water. There lives yet on the banks of 
the Clinch River, an old pearler, the distress of 
many a speculator for his knowledge of pearls 
and their value, who sometimes sorrowfully 
relates how he thus in bygone years angrily 
threw away many good pearls, one of them the 

43 



THE PEARL 

finest "ball" pearl he has ever seen. If these 
gems were so regarded by the ignorant white 
settlers of the west until the advent of men who 
had learned to appreciate them either for their 
beauty or the price they would bring from the 
outside world, it may be surmised that the 
awakening of the ancient Indian to their beauty, 
must have been a much slower process, unas- 
sisted as it was by men from beyond their 
limits who had long regarded them as precious. 
At first, probably, pearls were thrown to the 
children as playthings, as diamonds were in 
the Cape: then the young squaws gradually 
opened their eyes to the fact that the white 
shining things enhanced the charms of their 
smooth copper skins by contrast: the brave 
sought them to please the maid he would bring 
to his tepee : perhaps rovers brought news that 
in the far south, in lands of houses and teocalli 
and much magnificence, or farther off among the 
Incas, these baubles were prized by the chiefs. 
So gradually it dawned upon some that the 
" eggs " of the mollusk were beautiful, and upon 
others that they could be bartered for skins, 
blankets, or arrows, possibly for a pony, and 

44 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

so they came to be gathered and stored and 
displayed as things which enriched the owner. 
How far back in the ages the use of pearls 
on this continent extends cannot be estimated. 
The discovery of them in the mounds east of the 
Mississippi, which are credited to an ancient 
race that finally succumbed to the similar but 
more warlike red men found here when the 
country was discovered by Europeans, suggests 
many centuries. And the use of pearls to the 
extent manifest by the discoveries, favors the 
theory that the mound-builders had reached a 
degree of refinement never attained by the 
North American Indians of record. When white 
men invaded the North American continent, 
they found tribes of red men as rugged as the 
coasts of New England. Inured to hardships, 
despising pain, contemptuous of death, they 
lived by hunting and found their chief pleasure 
in the slaughter of their enemies. Camping at 
will, their lodges were here to-day and there 
to-morrow, and brutal if heroic, they roamed 
over fields once inhabited by a race which had 
passed, but left evidence that they were suf- 
ficiently civilized to appreciate the pearl. 

45 



THE PEARL 

In Florida and South America, the conditions, 
when the country was discovered by the 
Spaniards, were different. The ancient races, 
corresponding with the mound-builders of the 
north, undisturbed by the incursions of stronger 
tribes, had continued to progress and had 
reached a high degree of barbarous luxury. 

In Mexico, when Montezuma gave audience 
to Cortez, he was ablaze with gold and silver 
and precious stones. His cloak and sandals 
were adorned with pearls. Pearls were used to 
decorate temples, canoes and even the paddles. 
Indian women had great strings of them coiled 
around their necks and arms, and the chiefs 
used them freely on all occasions of state. It 
was the same on the Colombian coasts. 

At the island of Cubagua and on the main 
coast, Columbus found great quantities of pearls, 
as did De Soto and his followers when they 
landed at Tampa Bay, known by the Spaniards 
as ' ' Spiritu Santo, ' ' in Florida in 1 5 3 9 . The Incas 
of Peru also owned many fine pearls. Though 
the natives of all these countries ignorantly 
injured the gems by cooking the oyster to 
extract them, or by their crude methods of 

46 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

boring, and reckoned them of little value as 
compared with the European idea, they never- 
theless esteemed them as jewels and must have 
done so for ages, for the invaders found them in 
the sepulchres of the dead, so altered by the 
processes of time that they retained nothing of 
their original beauty. 

Frdm these premises therefore it can be said 
of the antiquity of the pearl in this hemisphere, 
that it had been used as a jewel for some 
centuries before the early part of the sixteenth 
century. 

The European regard for the pearl at this 
time may be estimated by the eagerness with 
which pearls were sought on the American 
continent by the adventurers of Spain, and by 
the pains they took on the arrival here of a new 
expedition, to convey assurances to the King 
of Spain that pearls were to be had in the new 
conquest. In the commission appointing De 
Soto to the governorship of Cuba, and as 
adelantado of Florida, Charles V. stipulated that 
of the gold, silver, stones and pearls, obtained 
by barter or in battle or otherwise, a certain 
portion should be reserved for the Crown. 

47 



THE PEARL 

In all the courts of Europe during the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the pearl was, 
if not the chief, one of the most prominent 
jewels. Mary, Queen of Scots, possessed a 
rosary of pearls which excited the envy of 
Catherine de Medicis and Elizabeth of England, 
both of whom sought diligently to acquire them 
when the Scotch Queen became mired by 
misfortune. 

The virgin queen of England when she 
went in state to chapel, wore pendent pearls 
in her ears after the fashion of Rome, and 
borders of large pearls fastened on her dress. 
When in her time Sir Thomas Gresham of 
London, a wealthy subject, wished to show the 
Spanish Ambassador, who had boasted of the 
magnificence of his Sovereign's court, how 
prodigal her liege subjects could be in her honor, 
nothing occurred to him more striking than to 
grind to powder a large pearl and mix it with 
the wine he drank to her health. This act of 
the English merchant shows that the pearl was 
then regarded by the great as the acme of 
costliness and beauty. 

From the reign of Francis I. of France to that 
48 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

of Louis XIII. the pearl was prominent in all 
jewels of note, and from that time to the death 
of Maria Theresa of Austria toward the close of 
the eighteenth century, it was worn in prefer- 
ence to all other gems. It was during the reign 
of Louis XIII. that Ta vernier, the celebrated 
French Jeweller and traveller, assisted by that 
monarch, made his journeys into Asia. The 
account of his travels, published later, are 
highly esteemed for their truthfulness, and are 
regarded as exact, if prosaic statements of fact. 
The desire for the gem in Europe at this time 
was so great that Ta vernier purchased over half 
a million dollars* worth from'the Arabian Sea. 
Probably the immense quantities of pearls sent 
to Spain from the Indies by her rovers in the 
early part of the sixteenth century, caused the 
vogue of that gem during the three centuries 
following, for not much mention is made of 
them in western Europe prior to that time. 
Nevertheless pearls were esteemed in the 
British Isles as early as the eleventh century, 
for it is recorded that Gilbert, Bishop of 
Limerick, sent a present of Irish pearls from 
the fishery at Omagh, to Anselm, Archbishop of 

4 49 



THE PEARL 

Canterbury, about 1094, and Scotch pearls were 
not only in demand in Britain but on the 
continent also as early as the twelfth century. 
In 1355, the Parisian goldsmiths forbade by 
statute, workers in gold and silver to set Scotch 
pearls with the Oriental. 

The Oriental pearl probably came into 
Europe first from Egypt through the incursions 
of the Macedonians into that country. Later, 
when Alexander overran Persia his followers 
doubtless became yet more familiar with the 
gem, for they spread through Arabia and the 
Persian Gulf where ancient fisheries also existed. 

Pearls were not well known west and north of 
Asia and Africa at this time, for a writer of 
Mytilene in the island of Lesbos, about 350 B. C, 
which was but a few years before Alexander's 
conquest of Persia, says: "In the Indian Sea, 
off the coasts of Armenia, Persia, Susiana and 
Babylonia, a fish like an oyster is caught, from 
the flesh of which men pick out white bones 
called by them 'pearls'." This would indicate 
that knowledge of them was being carried at 
that time by returning soldiers, camp-followers 
and travellers, and these men probably brought 

50 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

home also many of the "white bones" obtained 
by trade or looting. Whatever the method by 
which they were introduced, pearls came into 
favor, and the favor increased as they were 
brought with other jewels from the looted 
treasuries of eastern potentates. The Mace- 
donians established fisheries in the Red Sea, 
where the Egyptians obtained their chief supply, 
and the Romans later brought them also from 
the Arabian Sea. 

Three centuries B. C, the power of the 
Macedonians commenced to wane ; Rome began 
to rise and overrun the countries which had 
been subject to the Macedonians; and pearls 
were thereby carried further west. The Romans 
adopted the pearl as a jewel of the first impor- 
tance if not the chief of all, probably because 
they had found them so regarded by the older 
royalties they plundered. As the riches of 
surrounding and far-off countries which she 
raided, poured into the coffers of Rome, and 
the city grew to be the centre of power and 
wealth, the excesses of the rich became ludi- 
crous to the verge of insanity. In their wild 
extravagances the pearl was prominent. 

51 



THE PEARL 

Affected doubtless by the splendor of Asiatic 
courts, the rude soldiers of Rome learned to 
regard the pearl as a royal luxury, and therefore 
adopted it as a sign of great wealth and power. 
Enormous sums were paid for pearls of rare size 
and beauty. Great leaders of men vied with 
each other in the effort to add to their col- 
lections. It is said that Julius Caesar's chief 
incentive for pushing his conquests into the 
west so far, was his desire to obtain the pearls 
to be found in the streams of the British Isles. 
The Emperor Caligula decked his favorite 
horse with a necklace of pearls. Pliny says of 
Lollia Paulina, Caligula's wife, that he had seen 
her so bedecked with pearls and precious stones 
that "she glittered and shone like the sun as 
she went." Clodius, the glutton, claiming for 
them a very delicate flavor, placed one by the 
plate of each guest at a great banquet to be 
mixed with the wine. This same profligate, 
either setting the example or emulating 
Cleopatra, swallowed in a cup of wine one worth 
eight thousand pounds that he might have the 
pleasure of consuming so much value at once. 

If in the intrigues so common then, a woman's 
52 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

influence was required, pearls were given her. 
To convey an indirect bribe to a man of high 
station a pearl of great price was presented to 
a member of his family. Women wore them 
while they slept that they might possess them 
in their dreams; they hung them in loose 
clusters suspended from the ears, that the 
tinkling might remind them of the beauty they 
could not see, and to attract the admiration 
and envy of others. These were called "cro- 
talia," meaning "rattles." Young men of 
fortune in Athens and Rome followed the 
Persian fashion of wearing one in the right ear, 
hung as a clapper in a small bell of metal. So 
stroag and general did the desire to own them 
become that Csesar forbade unmarried women, 
and women under a certain rank, to wear them. 
Perhaps never in the history of jewels has the 
vogue of one so nearly approached a frenzy as 
that of the pearl in Rome during her days of 
extreme power and grandeur. The high esteem 
in which it was held there is reflected in the 
Scriptures. The Saviour used it in His parables 
as a symbol. The gates of the Holy City, as 
the prophet John saw it in his vision, were 

53 



THE PEARL 

pearls. From that time until now, writers have 
used pearls to symbolize purity, innocence and 
the highest type of feminine beauty. To say 
that a woman's teeth were like pearls has been 
the poets' favorite adulation, and the discovery 
and sale of great pearls has been deemed of 
sufficient importance by travellers and his- 
torians to record them. 

Much of the literature of pearls is founded on 
the statements of Pliny regarding them : many, 
if not most, of the absurd beliefs as to their 
origin and superstitions concerning them, may 
be traced to the same source ; and though these 
ancient errors have been repeatedly exposed by 
later scientists and naturalists the poetic absurd- 
ities of the industrious Roman compiler, gath- 
ered from contemporaneous writers and tra- 
dition are current to-day, for they appeal more 
to the child-like human love of the indefinite 
wonderful than the exact statements of re- 
search, though the latter are really more 
marvellous. 

Though jewels are regarded by many as 
baubles and of little account among the great 
commercial interests of the world, they have 

54 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

been an important factor in shaping the destiny 
of nations, changing the borders of great 
countries and thereby aiding the progress of 
civilization. As pearls helped materially to 
bring Rome to the British Isles and the colo- 
nists of Spain to South America, so it is quite 
probable that the pearls of Egypt had their 
influence in drawing the Macedonians to that 
country, to be followed by the Romans when 
the latter sought to overturn the Macedonian 
empire. Beyond this, their influence among 
those who held the reins in the government of 
empires, or those having power with them that 
did, cannot be estimated. 

Passing beyond the days of Greece and Rome 
to more remote times and countries, we come to 
the realms of conjecture. We know that pearls 
were known and used as jewels in Egypt under 
the Ptolemies. Chares of Mytilene mentioned 
that they were worn by women of the East 
about the neck and arms and even upon the 
feet. It is said there is a word for them in a 
Chinese dictionary four thousand years old. 

There is evidence that they had been used in 
India and the far East long before the West had 

55 



THE PEARL 

knowledge of those countries, but we have 
nothing recorded which penetrates the past 
beyond three to four hundred years B. C, for 
there is not as much mention made of them in 
ancient writings familiar to the West as of 
other precious stones. Nevertheless the pearl is 
among the most ancient in the nomenclature of 
jewels because when it did come to be written 
of only the one thing could be meant. Nature 
produces nothing similar with which it could be 
confounded, whereas it is not certain that the 
diamond, ruby, and other stones as we know 
them, were intended when the names by which 
we designate them were used. Such indis- 
criminate use of names has been made by 
translators that it is difficult to determine what 
the stones really were about which ancient 
authors wrote. The names of those in the 
Jewish High Priest's breastplate, given in our 
English version of the Old Testament, undoubt- 
edly misrepresent the stones actually used, and 
the only thing authorities agree upon regarding 
the names is that they are incorrect. 

As there was no definite knowledge of the 
crystallography and chemistry of stones in 
56 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

the old days, writers referred to them often 
in general terms rather than by specific names, 
and these were translated into the names of 
later times according to the understanding 
of the translator, who had neither expert 
knowledge of his own nor reliable litera- 
ture from which to gather information or 
guidance. An illustration of this general con- 
fusion occurs in the book of Job XXVIII. 18. 
It is written there, "No mention shall be made 
of coral, or of pearls ; for the price of wisdom is 
above rubies." Scholars tell us that the words 
translated here "coral" and "pearls," signify 
"found in high places," and are thought to be 
precious stones though the variety is unknown. 
The Targum renders the first "Sandalchin," 
probably our sardonyx. Junius and Tremellius 
translated it "Sandaztros" in their Latin ver- 
sion of the Old Testament, whereas Pliny 
described it as a sort of carbuncle having shining 
golden drops in the body of it. 

After the same manner the last sentence, " For 
the price of wisdom is above rubies " is rendered 
by the great oriental scholar Bochart, "The 
extraction of wisdom is greater than the extrac- 

57 



THE PEARL 

tion of pearls," and other authorities agree with 
him. 

Although there is evidence that many if not 
all the precious stones of to-day were known 
and used by the ancients, it is equally evident 
that they were much confounded and very 
roughly classified by general appearance only, 
and as various peoples gave them different 
names, all records of them are as misleading as 
the recorders were ignorant of their differential 
qualities. Even with the rapid increase of 
knowledge in the last few centuries, not until 
quite lately has science drawn the lines clearly 
between stones similar in appearance though 
essentially different and furnished means for the 
detection of those inherent differences. It is 
impossible therefore to learn by ancient writ- 
ings how long any of the precious stones have 
been known and used as jewels, for we do not 
know positively what the stone was by the name 
given in old writings or by the translator of 
them. The pearl only has not been thus gener- 
ally confounded with other gems. 

Once only are pearls mentioned in the Old 
Testament — the instance quoted from the book 

58 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

of Job. It would seem therefore, that although 
used as jewels, they were not regarded as of 
great value in the East prior to about 400 
years B. C, at which time the last of the sacred 
Jewish books is supposed to have been written. 
True, royalty wore them in Egypt and the 
people of Persia and Arabia used them very 
generally for personal adornment; but they 
were abundant in those countries and there had 
been no demand for them beyond their borders, 
therefore, though beautiful, they were common 
and not appreciated fully. Upon the influx of 
foreign invaders from shores that yielded no 
such gems their status changed rapidly. The 
greedy avidity with which Greeks and Romans 
seized them, and the demand for them from the 
West which came later, gave these natives 
of pearl-producing shores a new idea of the 
value of their pearls and the trinkets became 
gems. 

It was a condition similar to that which arose 
nineteen hundred years later when the Span- 
iards invaded America. At their first coming 
the natives gave them freely large quantities 
of pearls and gleefully traded magnificent gems 

59 



THE PEARL 

for broken pieces of gaudily painted and var- 
nished porcelain. As one to-day might take a 
new acquaintance for a day's fishing to a 
well-stocked stream, so the Indians took the 
Spaniards to the pearl banks to show them how 
they obtained their pearls. With pleasure and 
probably some amusement, they watched the 
eagerness with which the strangers sought the 
pearls, and doubtless wondered at the gratifi- 
cation displayed when they found any. 

The Egyptians and Asiatics being more highly 
civilized undoubtedly valued their pearls more 
than the South American Indians did, but 
naturally they would not appreciate them so 
highly as they did after foreign desire had 
depleted their hoards and established a con- 
stant demand for them, greater than the yield 
of their fisheries. 

That this condition prevailed in Egypt and 
Asia prior to the advent of Europeans, is indi- 
cated by the apparent ignorance of the writer 
of the book of Job concerning pearls. The 
word used in Chapter XXVIII. 18 is simply the 
translator's sign for an unknown quantity, and 
as the pearl is an apt symbol and illustration of 

60 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

many ideas connected with or embodied in the 
cult of the Jewish Church, the fact that the 
Jewish writers did not so use it, though the 
precious metals and other precious stones were 
so used, and though their books were written 
in various countries, suggests that the pearl in 
those days was not reckoned of equal import- 
ance with gold and silver and stones like those 
set in the Jewish High Priest's breastplate for 
instance. 

That a very considerable change in the world's 
estimate of the pearl took place during the four 
centuries B. C. is illustrated by the references 
made to pearls in the New Testament. Rome 
had made of the "white bones from a shell- 
fish" of the fourth century B. C, a gem for the 
rich and powerful and so generally established 
it in the public estimation that the sacred writ- 
ers used it to illustrate their greatest conceptions 
of beauty and spiritual worth. 

The Saviour likened the Kingdom of Heaven 
to "a pearl of great price:" under the simili- 
tude of pearls He counseled the reservation of 
holy things from men incapable of appreciating 
them. Paul and John numbered them among 

61 



THE PEARL 

the costly adornments in the pride of life and 
with the most precious articles of merchandise. 
From that day, with the extension of commerce, 
and the growth of Western nations in affluence 
and refinement, the demand for pearls grew and 
spread until even the rude island of Britain 
learned to appreciate them. 

The quantities of large and beautiful pearls 
stored in the treasure-houses of Hindu princes 
suggest that they have existed as jewels in 
India for a very long period, but for how many 
centuries cannot be definitely stated. The 
probability is that in very remote ages, rude 
fishermen of tropic seas all over the world, 
while fishing for food were attracted by the 
lustrous objects found occasionally in the 
oysters which they gathered and that they 
saved them as things likely to please some maid 
or matron of their affections. A favor for them 
once established, they would be sought, and 
with the growth of intelligence and refinement 
would come increased appreciation. There is a 
close analogy in all things between the develop- 
ment of the individual and nations, and even of 
the world. Each progresses on the same lines, 
62 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

the difference consists in the magnitude and 
duration of the processes only. 

To the child, pearls are playthings ; to youth, 
pretty baubles; to mature years, important 
gems; to age, most beautiful and wonderful 
creations, and the more intelligent and refined 
the individual, the more quickly are these 
stages of regard reached. 

So probably, in countries where they were 
found, pearls have risen with the evolution of a 
great nation out of a primitive race, from the 
rude favor of toilers of the sea, to a high place 
in the esteem of the princes of a cultivated 
people. It is quite probable that when the 
Aryans from the north spread over India, they 
found pearls among the possessions of the 
natives of the Madras and Malabar coasts, if 
not of the interior and north, as Spain found 
them among the natives of South America. 
Having a higher order of intelligence, they 
would naturally estimate the gem as of greater 
value than the aborigines would. 

As the invaders in the course of centurirs 
gradually divided themselves into castes, the 
gem would come largely into the hands of the 

6.3 




THE PEARL 

highest and its value would increase with the 
affluence of the ruling class, according to the 
ratio existing between their wealth and that 
of the average community; for the centraliza- 
tion of wealth establishes a price for its imper- 
ishable forms which debars the masses from 
ownership. So, probably, the Aryans from the 
north acquired the pearls they found in the 
possession of the Dasyus. When the shepherd 
invaders were settled in the territory they had 
conquered and became divided into castes of 
Vaisyas, Kshattriya and Brahman, pearls gravi- 
tated to the upper classes, to be garnered later 
by their princes as the government assumed a 
tyrannical form; and so it is that the great 
pearls of India found in ancient times are among 
the jewels of the princes of India, or of the 
Shah of Persia and the Afghan Ameers, who in 
turn looted some of the richest treasuries of 
India. 

In countries east of India one can only 
imagine the history of pearls for there are no 
records of them. Year after year, for centuries 
and cycles, in undiscovered deeps, the beds of 
the sea were strewn with noble gems that 
64 



ANTIQUITY OF THE PEARL 

through all their years of beauty lay neglected : 
the soft luster of succeeding charms appealed in 
vain for eyes which never came, and when the 
slow processes of time had brought decay they 
passed unseen to the catacombs of Nature. 

So it was in many a tropic sea, on unknown 
shores and about islands holding strange 
creatures and stranger men. In the still, clear 
waters of far-away lagoons, treasures of pearls, 
released by the death of their creators, have 
rolled to a resting-place on coral reefs, to lie 
there until the sea, atom by atom, devoured 
them. Could all the pearls hoarded by every 
nation on earth be gathered together, the 
mighty sum would be small compared with the 
number of those which lie buried beneath the 
ocean. 

But, one by one, slant-eyed Celestials, Maoris, 
Malays, Papuans, Polynesians and others, dis- 
covering, learned to prize and hoard the pearl. 
Then came men from far-off wonderlands, whose 
great ships spread their sails to the winds of 
the deep waters and who could endure for 
many days the solitudes of the great seas. 
These in the early days made war to plunder, 
5 65 



THE PEARL 

but were replaced as the centuries passed, by 
others who gave gaudy beads and cloths of 
many colors and water that fired the soul and 
other wonderful things, in exchange for the 
white beads of the sea, and so the pearls of the 
unenlightened children of the South Seas 
passed to the princes of the West, even as the 
same restless spirits, spreading their sails to the 
winds of the great seas in the opposite direction, 
brought them east from more barbarous shores 
far away to the westward. 

Our knowledge of pearls reaches back about 
twenty-three hundred years, through the writ- 
ings of Pliny, who nearly nineteen hundred 
years ago gathered the facts of his day and the 
rumors of traditions concerning them. Beyond 
that we can only surmise that in prehistoric 
ages, with the dawn of intelligence in the 
infantile period of the race, men dwelling near 
tropic seas were attracted by them as children 
are by bright and pretty baubles ; and that as 
humanity by families, tribes and nations, grew 
out of savagery to the mental stature of a man, 
so pearls grew to be jewels very precious. 



66 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

Although the pearl like all other jewels, has 
had its periods of extreme and general public 
favor, unlike other gems if it is once appreciated 
by an individual or a nation it is never utterly 
discarded by either. iL.np.t the fashion, pearls. 
are alw ays in f ashion . Far as we can look back 
among the dim, uncertain figures of the mystic 
past whose shades stand where the unknown 
multitudes have fallen, we find pearls. 

The princes of India through all their genera- 
tions, the dynasties of Egypt, the royalties of 
Persia, the wild chiefs of Arab tribes, the 
potentates of Greece, Rome and Venice, the 
houris of Turkey, the Queens of every European 
court, from the time they found a place in 
history until now, all wear pearls. At first 
thought this seems strange, for of all gems the 
origin of the pearl is most humble. No titanic 
forces, groaning in the travail of subterranean 
convulsions, crushed and ground and fired its 
particles to shape and beauty. It grew, a few 

69 



THE PEARL 

fathoms deep, where the waters are at peace, 
in the embrace of a mollusk and out of its 
exudations. 

From this lowly parentage it rises at once to 
a place among the noblest, for it is the aristo- 
crat of gems and finds its warmest admirers 
among the aristocrats of all nations. The 
favorites of fortune the world over in all ages 
have succumbed to the modest beauty of the 
pearl. Its ascendancy marks not alone the 
refinement of the individuals with whom it finds 
favor, but the high status of the nation where 
it is widely appreciated. The pearl is the 
favorite of those who are surfeited with jewels. 
One may become tired of the diamond's 
splendor, but those who learn to appreciate the 
unobtrusive loveliness of the pearl, seldom lose 
that fondness for them which it develops. It 
is the one gem which does not satiate. The 
love of pearls usually marks a connoisseur of 
gems and one accustomed to the possession of 
jewels. Diamonds emblazon the gates of 
luxury but pearls are the familiars of the 
luxurious. Glittering gems are admired by all 
classes but usually the pearl is fully appreciated 

70 




PRINCESS ABAMALXK LAZARIFF 

(From the fainting ■' I 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

only by old countries and persons " to the manor 
born." It is in the treasure-houses of the 
princes of the Orient and among the jewels of 
great and noble families that one must look for 
the pearls gathered during the centuries. Except 
in Italy and Arabia, where all classes prize them, 
the pearl is not a jewel of the people, but of 
the gentry and the very rich who come in con- 
tact with them. 

It is essentially a jewel for the wealthy. 
Unostentatious, exquisite, it is insufficient for 
those who have no other jewels and unfit for 
common wear. Of a nature too delicate for 
rough usage, it must be well cared for and 
properly housed. Even then the hand of time 
bears heavily upon it for it is susceptible to 
many influences which do not affect other gems. 
Comparatively soft, the lustrous skin is injured 
by rough and careless contact with other jewels. 
The gold of the setting, in time, cuts into the 
surface where it binds, or if it is pierced and 
strung, the rings of nacre about the orifices 
gradually peel away. Hot water injures it; 
gases discolor it. As the cheek of beauty grows 
dim with age, so gradually the brilliancy of 



THE PEARL 

youth fades from the pearl and the complexion 
of it is changed. And yet it retains a certain 
loveliness which may well be compared to the 
exquisite serenity with which the maturer 
years of some women are adorned. 

The pearl, therefore, being essentially a jewel 
of the rich, is not affected as others by the 
whims of fashion. In Oriental countries, where 
the lives of the masses and what little property 
they hold are practically at the mercy of their 
rulers, the centuries make little change in con- 
ditions and less in fashions. The nobles have 
always possessed the jewels of the various 
eastern countries and the fashion continues 
through generations and dynasties, to accumu- 
late and hold them until some stronger power 
takes them away by force. As the people 
hammered heavy bracelets and anklets out of 
the precious metals, not alone for display, but 
also to hoard them, so their princes hoarded 
jewels. 

In the old times these hoards of the precious 

metals were periodically gathered by the 

requisitions of the princes on the people, and 

of jewels by the demands of a successful invader 

72 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

upon the princes; but while the possessors 
changed, the fashion remained always the same, 
and whether the Shah of Persia, the Ameer of 
Afghanistan, or the Mogul, there has been no 
variation in the constant desire to obtain more 
jewels, pearls among them, and to display them 
after the same fashion through all the genera- 
tions. 

To some extent this is true of pearls in the 
Occident also. Since Rome set the fashion 
there has not been a time in the history of any 
European nation, once it had risen to the pearl- 
wearing eminence, when the upper classes did 
not wear pearls. There is this difference between 
the East and the West however; whereas the 
men of the East wear them, in the West, pearls 
are worn almost entirely by women alone. The 
more rugged life of European men, the coarser 
fabrics of their garments to suit climatic needs, 
and their virile distaste for effeminate display, 
all combine to bar them from a jewel suited 
only to soft silks and linens or the touch of 
softer flesh. 

In ancient times, among Asiatics, fashion 
probably did not culminate in any direction, 

73 



THE PEARL 

as to-day, in a vogue. The inability of the 
masses to follow a fashion of the upper classes, 
both for lack of means and permission to do 
so; the absence of all rapid methods of com- 
munication between sections of country within 
and without national borders, with the conse- 
quent limitations of a knowledge of men and 
things to community affairs, and the paucity of 
manufacturing possibilities, all combined to 
make fashions permanent. With the awaken- 
ing of the vigorous barbarian tribes of Europe 
to a knowledge of their power, and their rapid 
civilization, came the frenzied desire of men 
new to the situation, to crowd as much as possi- 
ble into the span of life. 

Rome rioted in the accumulations of ages. 
With an appetite whetted by an heredity of 
unsatisfied desire, she drank the finest vintages 
and gourmandized the choicest morsels of the 
world, immune from present punishment for 
excess by a long ancestry of hard and simple 
life. Every land that she could reach, sent to 
her the best of all their products, and from the 
incoming tide of things new to her experience, 
she adopted many fashions, among them that 

74 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

of wearing pearls. For several centuries they 
were in vogue, so much so that edicts were 
issued restricting them to certain classes. Since 
that time, the very general use of them by 
persons of high station in Europe, beyond all 
other gems, seems to have been confined to the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and is now 
being revived at the opening of the twentieth. 

There is one fashion of wearing pearls which 
is common to all ages and races, viz. strung as 
beads in chains to hang about the neck. The 
mound-builders of North America, the Indians 
of the Mississippi Valley, of Virginia, of the 
coasts of Florida, of the lands around the Gulf 
of Mexico and everywhere in New Spain, all 
wore them so. Egyptians, Persians, Arabians, 
Hindus, Singhalese and South Sea islanders, 
many of them without knowledge of countries 
or peoples beyond their own or very near ter- 
ritory, alike adopted this fashion. And it has 
been followed by every newer people, as they 
acquired by trade or the sword, the pearls with 
which to so adorn themselves. 

In lands of tropic heat the women wound 
these strings of pearls about their arms, wrists 

75 



THE PEARL 

and ankles also. Nor was the fashion confined 
to women. When the Spaniards first reached 
these shores, the caciques of Florida and the 
incas of Peru, on occasions of State, wore ropes 
of pearls around their necks, and so to this day 
do the rajahs and princes of India and the 
eastern islands. The more civilized peoples 
used round pearls, and became more critical 
about the quality and perfection of the gems 
as they grew in wealth and refinement. 

The necklaces found in the Indian mounds 
are made principally of baroques, some of them 
rounded, but many of them long, slender pieces, 
bored a short distance from the thinner end, 
so that they hung in pendant festoons. As 
with all primitive races, the magnificence of 
size appealed to the Indians of this hemisphere, 
as it did also to the Spanish adventurers who 
first landed on the coasts of America. A chroni- 
cler of events during the time when De Soto 
was governor of the province which now forms 
several of the Southern States, mentions that 
a cacique brought as a present to the governor 
at the town of Ichiaha, a string of pearls as 
large as filberts, five feet long. 
76 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

It is noticeable, that in all the accounts given 
of the wealth of pearls discovered in the pos- 
session of the natives, the Spaniards rarely say 
anything about the shape or quality of the 
pearls seen or taken, but always mention the 
size when large. They do, however, constantly 
deplore the discoloration caused by the use of 
fire in the process of boring them. One may 
imagine the chagrin of these freebooters on 
finding heaps of royal gems wrecked by the 
ignorance of the plundered; the value burned 
out of them, like bank notes for millions muti- 
lated beyond redemption. The pearls compos- 
ing this five-foot string were all discolored, — 
good enough for Indians, but of little value in 
Spain and Europe. 

Round baroques are strung for necklaces to 
this day, especially in Italy, where the peasantry 
save from their small earnings the equivalent of 
two to three hundred dollars, to them an 
enormous sum, to buy the coveUd necklace of 
pearls. These necklaces are composed usually 
of several strands of small rounded baroques 
weighing about one to two grains rath and con- 
nected by bars. Usually there arc three to live 

77 



THE PEARL 

strands, but some are made with as many as 
eleven or twelve. Necklaces are made also in 
the same way, of small round pearls, and the 
bars, of which there are generally four, includ- 
ing that containing the clasp, are studded with 
diamonds. 

The Asiatics prefer strings of large pearls, 
graduating in size on either side from a large 
central one. A number of these of increasing 
length and fastened together at the clasp are 
worn by Oriental royalties, so that each string 
festoons below the preceding one, the lowest 
and longest string sometimes hanging to the 
waist. There are few however even among the 
Hindu princes whose store of large pearls is 
equal to such prodigality. 

When pearl necklaces were adopted by the 
Romans after their conquests in Egypt, Persia 
and India, they vied with the moharchs they 
had conquered, some of their rulers acquiring 
pearls of enormous value. The wife of Caligula 
owned pearls worth two million dollars, but 
Oriental treasure-houses held greater accumula- 
tions. The pearls of the late Rana of Dholpur 
in Upper India, were valued at seven and a half 
78 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

million dollars. From Rome the fashion spread 
with the advance of civilization through all the 
nations of Europe and followed their coloniza- 
tions westward. Only in the last decade has 
the use of pearls in the United States become 
sufficiently general to place them in the list of 
things that are a fashion. 

Many large pearls of pear, egg, or drop shape, 
and some round, are used as pendants, to be 
hung on slender gold neck chains, or suspended 
from brooches of diamonds. They are bored 
at the smaller end to a depth of about one- 
eighth of an inch, the hole is rilled with a com- 
position which hardens rapidly, and in this a 
gold wire, looped at one end for connecting, is 
inserted. Formerly the pearl was drilled quite 
through and the suspending wire riveted, but 
this is rarely done now as it lessens the value 
of the pearl and destroys the perfect pendant 
effect. This is a European fashion. The 
Chinese mount pearls by boring into the body 
of the pearl at two, three or four points and 
inserting the bent ends of spreading wires so 
that the gem is clasped as by spreading finger 
tips. 

79 



THE PEARL 

Pear-shaped pearls were used in Rome for 
pendant purposes as now and were known as 
"elenchi." After the Roman fashion of "cro- 
talia" or "castanet" eardrops had passed, drop 
pearls continued in more or less favor through- 
out succeeding centuries as eardrops, the match- 
ing of one nearly doubling the value of both. 
Of late, egg and pear-shaped pearls have been 
used largely as heads for scarf pins. They are 
drilled and set on a gold wire or "pegged" as 
it is called, in the manner described for pendants 
but with the smaller end resting upon a light 
gold ring soldered to the scarf pin, or in a small 
cup, so that the pressure, while inserting the 
pin, is distributed over the body of the pearl 
and upon the end, instead of upon the inner wall 
in contact with the end of the pin. 

The Persians used pearls largely in the 
jewelling of royal headgear, for Pompey is said 
to have brought home twenty crowns of pearls 
with the loot from his eastern raid. Hindu 
princes strung them on straight wires of equal 
length and bound a number of them together, 
to be fastened as pompons or aigrettes, to their 
turbans. They encrusted and edged their robes 
80 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

with them as also did the royalties and nobles 
of Europe during the middle ages. Seed pearls 
were strung in lengths of four to six feet and 
the strands twisted together like a rope. This 
fashion continues to this day, such ropes of 
pearls sometimes measuring five feet in length. 

The semi-barbarous Indian tribes of America 
did not confine the use of pearls altogether to 
personal adornment. They decorated their 
idols, state canoes, the handles of the paddles, 
and the figures in their temples with them, and 
they buried enormous quantities in the sepul- 
chres with their dead. There is no evidence that 
this latter form of extravagance was at any 
time general in Asia or Europe, but Julius 
Caesar made a buckler of British pearls which 
he hung up in the temple of Venus Genetrix 
after dedicating it to her. 

Among the ancients it does not appear that 
pearls were used in connection with the precious 
metals to a great extent. Collars of gold and 
silver with large pearls as pendants were some- 
times seen upon the necks of Indians by the 
Spaniards when they landed on this continent, 
but in Asia, Africa, and upon their first intro- 
6 8i 



THE PEARL 

duction into Europe, pearls were not used with 
the metals as freely as other gems. As the art 
of the jeweller developed however, they came 
into more general use and are now utilized with 
gold in every form of jewelry. Round and 
button pearls with diamonds or other stones, 
or alone, are set in gold as brooches, ear-rings, 
finger-rings, bracelets, hair-ornaments, scarf- 
pins, dress-pins, studs, cuff and dress buttons, 
etc., and baroques are also used for the same 
purposes. Brooches, lockets and pendants are 
paved with solid masses of half pearls. 

Some ancient swords of Hindu warriors 
betray a curious custom. A groove with over- 
lapping edges was sunk in the blade and into 
this pearls were introduced from the hilt end 
to represent the tears of enemies. There are 
blades so constructed in the collection of Indian 
swords presented to King Edward of England 
when, as the Prince of Wales, he visited India. 

Jewellers frequently avail themselves of the 
odd shapes in which baroques occur to construct 
unique jewels. Nature frequently gives them 
a resemblance to animals, and sometimes to the 
human figure and face, which may be accentu- 

82 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

atecl by the jeweller's art so as to make the 
resemblance striking. In one notable instance 
lately, a baroque was so mounted that it might 
easily pass as a modelled portrait of Queen 
Victoria. Baroques resembling bird's wings are 
common and are often made effective by mount- 
ing them on a bird of gold. Others remind one 
of fish, birds, insects, and beasts of various 
kinds. Clustered pearls enveloped together 
sometimes look like dog's heads, in which two 
of the enveloped pearls near the surface pass 
for eyes. Long, slender baroques are set to 
resemble the petals of a chrysanthemum, and 
others, mounted singly in sepals of gold, are 
suggestive of the buds of various flowers, roses, 
lilies, etc. 

Round and button pearls are used exten- 
sively now, and have been at various periods 
formerly, as centres for circles, or "clusters" of 
diamonds mounted as scarf-pins, finger-rings 
and formerly, when they were worn, as ear-rings. 
The pearls are sometimes drilled and set on a 
peg; sometimes they are held by claws or 
prongs as the diamonds surrounding them are. 

Pearls are very generally used now as studs 
83 



THE PEARL 

by men for evening dress, usually mounted on 
pegs so as to avoid the display of any gold. 

But all fashions of wearing pearls except as 
necklaces, are ephemeral. The fashion of pearl 
necklaces has been constant for thousands of 
years, though it is only brought to general 
public notice when some new country with its 
great and rapid accretions of wealth, adopts it. 
The markets of the world are then affected, the 
price of the gem rises, and this in turn tempts 
ancient and impoverished families to unlock 
their jewel cases to the bidding of the nouveau 
riche. That this condition has existed from the 
beginning of this century is shown by the sales 
which are being made constantly in Europe at 
the great public auctions of jewels. In 1901 the 
Comtesse de Castiglione necklace was sold for 
$84,000. At the sale of the Princess Mathilde 
jewels in Paris, a three strand necklace of 133 
pearls weighing 3320 grains, once the property 
of Queen Sophie of Holland, brought 885,000 
francs, which with the taxes to the purchaser 
made the cost $188,000. At the same sale, a 
seven strand collar given by Napoleon I. to 
the Queen of Westphalia, weighing 4,200 grs., 



THE FASHION OF PEARLS 

brought $89,000, and another collar once owned 
by the same Queen containing thirty-three 
black pearls, weighing 1040 grs. was sold for 
$20,240. Several fine strings were sold in 
London in 1903. Among them a three-row 
necklace from the Aquila Jewels for $22,400. A 
string of 198 finely matched gem pearls, round 
and graduated, w T as sold at Christie's for 6,500 
pounds. A triple row of 153 of the same kind 
brought 6,500 pounds. Many important sales 
have been made in the States, during the last 
ten years especially, but as they were made 
privately, and as buyers here are averse to any 
publicity they are not chronicled. It is a fact 
well known to jewellers, that Americans in their 
home market are extremely difficult. They 
demand a degree of perfection, not only in the 
gems themselves, but also in the matching of 
them, rarely exacted in other countries. There 
are strings of pearls in this country which if 
less magnificent, for extreme perfection and 
beauty are seldom equalled by the more notori- 
ous jewels of Europe, and princely sums have 
been paid for single pieces of great size and 
purity. Greater quantities of the coveted livas- 

85 



THE PEARL 

ures of the earth are pouring into the lap of 
the United States of America through the chan- 
nels of peaceful industry, than were ever 
gathered to a nation in the olden times by the 
marauders of the sword, and the jewel cases of 
our princes of commerce will soon eclipse those 
held by the scions of ancient freebooters. 



86 



VARIETIES 



VARIETIES 

True pearls are divided primarily into two 
classes, "oriental," and "freshwater." By true 
pearls those creations are meant which consist 
of concentric layers of nacre or mother-of-pearl, 
as distinguished from similar formations by 
mollusks out of material that is not pearly. 

In the early days pearls brought from the 
Orient were therefore called "Oriental" pearls. 
For the same reason the fine mellow luster 
which characterized and made them superior 
to others came to be known as the "orient" of 
the pearl. These pearls were taken from oysters 
found on the coasts of Ceylon, Arabia, and the 
Red Sea. Later, when the same kind of oysters 
containing similar pearls were found in other 
seas, they were also classified with them, until 
the term "oriental " is now applied usually to all 
true pearls taken from salt water mollusks, to 
distinguish them from those found in the fresh 
water mussels and other products of ocean shell 
fish which, though similar in construction and 

89 



THE PEARL 

composition, are not nacreous. Occasionally, 
however, the term is still applied specifically to 
pearls from the Indian Seas, though their 
"orient" or luster is not always finer than that 
of like pearls found in many other localities. 

Pearl oysters are varieties of the Avicula 
Margaritifera, of which the Meleagrina Margari- 
tifera is the most prolific of mother-of-pearl and 
pearls combined, and, the Indian excepted, 
yields the finest pearls. All pearl oysters do 
not produce sufficient mother-of-pearl to make 
their shells valuable, nor do they all contain 
pearls. The name therefore applies to all 
oysters whose secretions are productive, in some 
degree, of mother-of-pearl and therefore under 
favorable conditions of pearls also. 

"Fresh-water" or " sweet- water " pearls are, 
as the name signifies, those found in the mol- 
lusks of inland waters. This mollusk is a 
mussel. The name "mussel" in Anglo-Saxon 
signifies something which retires on being 
touched. It is known as " Unio " of which there 
are many pearl-bearing varieties. 

In both the sea oyster and the fresh-water 
mussel, other nacreous formations occur of 

90 



VARIETIES 

irregular shape called "baroque" pearls. The 
orientals approach more nearly to the globular 
and hemispherical form of true pearls, having 
frequently the lumpy rotundity of ^^nowball 
and sometimes sections which are smooth and 
round. The fresh-water baroques are usually 
very irregular, often fantastically so. Many 
resemble the incisor teeth of man or distorted 
grains of corn. Slender pieces similar to the 
wing of a bird and therefore called "wing" 
pearls, or "hinge" pearls because they are 
found near the hinge of the shell, are common. 
Some are shaped like a flat spike nail. Unlike 
oriental baroques, the surface of a large propor- 
tion of the fresh-waters is grooved or indented 
and some show a beautiful iridescence. Large 
button baroques of fine luster and iridescent, 
especially when they have a decided tinge of 
pink, have come to be known of late as "rose" 
pearls. Another variety of pink baroques hav- 
ing a fairly regular shape with a lustrous and 
finely irregular pimply surface are known as 
"strawberry" pearls. These terms are applied 
indiscriminately to the two varieties however. 
Another nacreous formation found in the 
91 



THE PEARL 

mother-of-pearl oyster shells is the "blister." 
It is produced by the raising of the nacreous 
deposits above the level of the shell to cover 
some intffcder of considerable size. This results 
in a growth similar in shape to a blister on the 
flesh, hence the name. It is cut out of the shell 
and used in various ways as a set for jewelry, 
or to imitate the bodies of insects or small ani- 
mals. Others with a slightly higher dome and 
rounded oval shape, regular in form, are called 
"turtlebacks." 

Some of these hollow shells of pearl have been 
found to cover small fish, lizards, etc. The 
writer saw one which appeared to be a large 
button-pearl. On lifting, it proved to be a shell 
of several thicknesses of nacre covering a small 
shell-fish about a half-inch in diameter. The 
imprisoned mollusk was shrunken and crumb- 
ling so that the nacreous covering could be 
lifted from over it, a hollow dome of pearl. 
Mud blisters are common in some waters and 
depreciate the quality of the shell and are other- 
wise useless. A typical mud blister appears in 
the shell illustrated herewith. 

The Abalone pearl occurs usually as a baroque 
92 




PANAMA PEARL-SHELL, SHOWING MUD-BLISTERS, borers, AND PEARl. 



VARIETIES 

or blister but occasionally it is found solid and 
spherical. Although it is not classed among 
true pearls, a few globular pieces found are 
entitled to a place among them because they 
are sometimes identical in construction and have 
a similar pearly luster, it is however very liable 
to crack and break and can seldom be pierced 
with safety. 

The shell-fish from which it takes the name is 
the Haliotis, called here the Abalone. It is 
known under many names — earshell, Venus 's 
ear, etc. In the English Channel Islands it is 
the ormer, and on the adjacent coast of France 
where it is very abundant the name for it is 
similar — "ormier." The Aelonians called it the 
"Ear of Venus." The shell is ear-shaped, 
flattened, slightly spiral and has a series of 
round holes near the edge curving with the last 
whorl toward the boss. As it grows, the oldest 
of these are successively filled up and the last 
remaining open, serves as the anal channel. 
The exterior is very rough and unsightly, but 
the mother-of-pearl interior is one of the most 
exquisite pieces of color work painted by the 
hand of nature and to this is added an enliven- 

93 



THE PEARL 

ing iridescence most fascinating. Like it, the 
pearl formations are deeply tinted. Brownish 
reds, peacock greens, and dark grays are the 
prevailing colors. They are seldom of even 
color or luster, many of them having but one 
lustrous point where a pearly glaze seems to 
have been incorporated with the earthenware 
like surface. 

Usually the pearls when round and lustrous 
are not constructed as compactly as those of 
the bivalves. The texture of the skins vary in 
quality and the frequent presence of inter- 
mediary strata of black conchiolin which 
shrink, makes them liable to crack and break. 
The blisters run very even in these two qualities 
of color and luster and though seldom quite as 
brilliant as the nacre of the shell, are very 
beautiful and often curiously formed. These 
blister-baroques are like two blisters joined at 
the edges, and are liable to separate there. 
The interior consists chiefly of black conchiolin, 
rough and somewhat shiny. 

The "Conch" pearl, found in the Conch 
(Strombus gigas) of the West Indies, also is not 
a true pearl. The shell is used largely for 

94 



VARIETIES 

ornamental purposes, especially for the cutting 
of cameos, and also in porcelain works. It is a 
large shell, sometimes weighing four or five 
pounds. Formerly great quantities were ex- 
ported to England from the Bahamas; in 
one year as many as three hundred thousand. 
Conch pearls are devoid of nacreous luster, the 
surface having an appearance like china. They 
are slightly transparent and show under the 
surface a series of delicate wavy markings. 

The silky sheen of these lines causes them to 
appear lighter than the body color of the pearl, 
and they seem to branch toward the surface, 
changing kaleidoscopically as the pearl is turned. 
Almost without exception the shape is ovoid, 
or a flattened ovoid, though some are distorted. 
In color they range from very pale to deep pink 
and coral red, the ends being usually much 
lighter than the body and often white. In the 
deeper tints they are more uniform in color, 
and as they are apt to be less lustrous and trans- 
parent as the shade deepens to red they show 
less plainly the distinguishing wavy lines, and 
may be easily mistaken for pieces of coral cut 
to the shape and polished. They are very 

95 



THE PEARL 

delicate and therefore easily fractured or 
cracked. As the natives usually obtain the 
pearls by cooking the fish, for which they have 
a great liking, a large proportion of the few 
which come into the market are cracked. It 
is claimed also that the color fades with time. 
They are sometimes called "Nassau" pearls. 

Pearls similar in appearance to the Conch, 
except that the wavy lines are absent and the 
skin rarely as brilliant, are taken with true 
pearls from the small varieties of the Avicula, 
especially about the coast of Venezuela. Some 
are white as chalk, many are tinted in various 
shades of gray, yellow and brownish reds. They 
have the shining appearance of china in different 
degrees, but no nacreous luster. The skins of 
many of these are peculiarly constructed, they 
show modified characteristics of various parts 
of the shell. The surface wave lines are present 
to some extent, together with curious malforma- 
tions of prisms and conchiolin. 

The hexagonal faces look as though they had 
been doubled up upon themselves together with 
a layer of conchiolin, the latter appearing as 
thick black V or U shaped marks in the faces 



VARIETIES 

of the distorted hexagons. Heretofore these 
have been considered valueless, but it is possi- 
ble that with the increasing vogue of pearls 
and the growing desire for oddities, they will 
be utilized in the cheaper forms of jewelry. 

Creations similar in construction to pearls 
are found occasionally in the common oyster 
and clam. Though entirely devoid of the pearly 
texture and luster, some of them are very 
perfect in shape and smoothness of skin. 
Whether taken from the oyster or clam they 
are usually called "clam pearls." The color of 
the oyster pearl is generally a light drab. The 
clam pearls are mostly purplish red or blue, 
often dark enough to appear black. Those 
taken from the oyster are generally round; 
those from the clam are more frequently ovoid. 
Occasionally one or both ends of the oval are 
lighter in color, as the Conch pearl is, changing 
there to a dark red or purple. When the color 
is very dark and the skin uncommonly good, 
they have been sold for black pearls by unscru- 
pulous dealers. They are accounted of little 
value, though exceptionally large pieces will 
sometimes sell for as much as one hundred to a 

7 97 



THE PEARL 

hundred and fifty dollars. Similar to these, 
pearly formations characterized by a glazed, or 
glassy, or shiny surface, are found in many 
molluscan varieties, bivalves and univalves, 
but none of these are true pearls. 

Pearls similar to the pink Conch are found in 
the shank or chank of Ceylon (Turbinella 
scolymus). This is the sacred shell of the 
Hindus and the national emblem of Travancore 
in the Madras presidency, India. Vishnu car- 
ries a chank called "Devadatta" in his hand. 
It is said his first incarnation was for the purpose 
of destroying Shankhasura (the giant chank 
shell), and thereby regaining the Vedas, which 
had been stolen and taken to ocean deeps. 



98 



COLOR 



Or, 



COLOR 

The ideal color for a pearl is white. Although 
all fine white pearls show by comparison a tint 
of some color, a fine white must be free from an 
appearance which can only be described as 
"dark." It is not color always but a certain 
density which makes the gem appear dead by 
comparison with the soft, warm, life-like white 
of the perfect pearl. The layers or skins of 
some pearls are more transparent than others 
and this imparts a liveliness which is absent in 
the more dense. 

Upon looking at a string of pearls held 
between the eye and the light, some will appear 
much lighter than others and show a translucent 
band about one-fifth the diameter of the pearl, 
extending from the edge of the circumference 
inward. Such pearls upon examination will 
be found much finer in color and texture than 
those which have the appearance beside them 
of dark opaque spots when held against the 
light. 

101 



THE PEARL 

There is also a white which is not dark and is 
yet dead. To some extent it is characteristic 
of all fresh-water pearls. It is a chalky, milky 
white that even when lustrous, carries a re- 
minder of chalk in the texture and lacks the 
essential life of the ideal pearl. Color in the 
highest perfection is found in the pearls of the 
Ceylon and Australian waters, the former being 
also very lustrous, and such are sometimes 
termed by the trade "Madras," after the city 
where the Indian pearls have been marketed for 
ages. It must not be inferred however that 
pearls equally good are not found in other 
localities, but that the color averages better, 
and the number of gems of ideal color and luster 
is greater from the Ceylon fisheries than else- 
where. The color and texture, and therefore 
luster, of fine Indian pearls is seldom equalled, 
never surpassed. 

To those who are without experience, and see 
for the first time a large quantity of pearls 
apparently alike in color, it would seem an easy 
matter to match any required number; but in 
attempting to gather sufficient for a single 
strand necklace, one would learn that a parcel 



COLOR 

or series of pearls, seemingly all white, contains 
a surprisingly great variety of shades or tones 
of color ; that which appears at first sight quite 
easy becomes in the attempt extremely diffi- 
cult. Probably nothing requires a sharper eye, 
a more delicate sense of color and greater 
patience, than the assembling of a finely matched 
string of pearls. Bearing in mind that size, 
shape, color, and perfection, must all corre- 
spond, it is not surprising that few strings exist 
which are above criticism. 

Those who buy them seldom realize what 
enormous quantities of pearls, and skilful and 
painstaking effort is necessary, to match per- 
fectly, thirty or more, especially of large size. 
Pearls which, separated by a few inches seem 
alike, when brought close together reveal dif- 
ferences of texture and tone of color suf- 
ficiently pronounced to arrest the eye and 
destroy that ideal perfection of purity which 
permits no spot to mar the symmetry of an 
assemblage of these emblematic gems. It was 
said in old times that to match a pearl perfectly 
was to double the value of both; one may 
imagine therefore the difficulty which confronts 

103 



THE PEARL 

the modern jeweller when he undertakes in this 
critical age to match thirty or forty. 

The color most common in pearls of all seas 
is yellow, but it is not so with fresh-water ones. 
Other colors are seldom found except as tints 
in white pearls, but distinctly yellow oriental 
pearls are abundant. The tones of color in 
the white are, yellow, blue, pink and green. 
They are so slight that it is difficult to recognize 
them except by comparison. The blue and 
pink are considered best, the champions of each 
being about equal. The green come next in 
favor and the yellow last. This order applies 
fully however to the Occident only. Some 
Oriental peoples do not draw such fine distinc- 
tions, and the Chinese prefer the creamy yellow 
to any other. 

The "blue" pearls, or "Panama" pearls as 
they are sometimes called in the trade, must 
not be confounded with the blue white pearls 
just mentioned. " Blue" pearls are of a dingy, 
slaty blue tint. They have a dark appearance 
and the luster is seldom good. As many of this 
character are found in the Panama waters such 
pearls are often sold as "Panama" pearls. 
IC4 



COLOR 

They are even less desirable than those which 
are decidedly yellow, though persons of a little 
knowledge will often buy them in preference to 
others which are better, because they are not 
yellow and are cheap. 

" Fancies" include all decided colors, or those 
having a rare and beautiful tint. Yellow pearls 
as generally found are not classed among them 
because the color is not fine, but dark, — 
"brackish" one might term it. A clean butter- 
cup yellow, or an orange yellow, would be 
"fancy" however. On the other hand a deep 
pink is seldom fine as the color is then almost 
invariably muddy, whereas the clean delicate 
light pink pearls are rare and highly esteemed. 
A clear grass green is never seen but the color 
occurs in very beautiful bronze and peacock 
shadings. Various shades of blue, rose, copper, 
and red with bronze effects, and black are 
included in this classification. 

Black pearls are much prized, and the term 
covers a wide range of dark shades of gray, 
slate, brown and red. The ideal color how- 
ever is sufficiently deep to be, as the name 
indicates, black, though it has not the metallic 

105 



THE PEARL 

appearance of hematite, nor the polished shine 
of the black clam pearl. Black pearls having 
a bronze effect are open to suspicion, especially 
if they are pierced, as many of them are arti- 
ficially colored and are liable to fade. Such 
pearls have a somewhat metallic appearance, 
are seldom very lustrous, and if there is a 
rough chalky place in the skin it will be 
blacker there than elsewhere. 

It is difficult to give rules by which to judge 
color, but there is a quality which can only be 
described as "clean." It is free from muddiness 
and is desirable in pearls as in all other gems. 

The proportion of fancy colors is greater in 
fresh- water pearls than in the orientals. In the 
United States the fisheries which have yielded 
the finest "fancies" are those of Wisconsin, 
Kentucky and Tennessee. Of sea pearls, most 
of the fine black ones come from the coasts of 
Mexico. Beautiful colored pearls are found in 
fisheries of the Oceanic Islands, for instance at 
the Isles of New Caledonia and Gambier, and 
in China and Japan. 

To make close comparisons of color in pearls, 
place them on white cotton under or opposite 
1 06 



COLOR 

a strong natural light. To judge shape and 
luster, roll them on black cloth. These are 
the most trying conditions and it should be 
remembered by those who test them thus, that 
no position as jewels when worn can be so 
unfavorable or trying. 



107 



IMPERFECTIONS 



IMPERFECTIONS 

Few pearls are perfect. The great majority 
of small pearls even, fail in one or more of the 
ideal qualities, and as the size increases per- 
fection becomes more rare. A perfect pearl is 
not necessarily of the finest luster, but it must 
be lustrous and of even luster all over. If 
round, it must be spherically round ; if pear or 
ovoid, symmetrically so, and the skin must be 
free from blemishes. 

Baroque and button pearls are naturally 
imperfect pearls, the former being fantastically 
irregular in shape and the latter partially 
deformed. Imperfections of shape in what are 
termed round pearls are more numerous than 
those unaccustomed to handling them would 
suppose. 

A lot of pearls which to the casual glance 
seem to be all quite round, will be found often 
on close examination to contain many, if not a 
majority, that are not. Upon rolling them 
separately, irregularities will appear which the 



THE PEARL 

luster and contiguity of others concealed. It 
will be discovered that the domes of some are 
slightly flattened at one part of the sphere; in 
others at two opposite points so as to form a 
double domed disk. Very many have slight 
protuberances above the contour of the sphere, 
or places in the spherical line, which though 
not flat, are depressed. While these minor 
imperfections of shape do not materially hurt 
the beauty of the pearl, they do decrease the 
value somewhat, and as they are quite common 
even among fine selected pearls they accentuate 
the rarity of the perfectly spherical. 

The adventures of a pearl from the moment 
when the mollusk begins to cover its nucleus 
with nacre, until the fisher squeezes it from the 
folds of the creature's mantle, are many and 
varied. A few only escape untoward happen- 
ings. The fortunate, born where the mollusk 
gathers and spreads its choice secretions of 
mother-of-pearl, with room to grow on every 
side, are nursed in the lap of good fortune and 
uncheckered, round out layer by layer to per- 
fection. 

But some are not so fortunate. In some way 

112 



IMPERFECTIONS 

cramped, they are held against the unyielding 
shell and grow flat on one side. These are the 
button pearls. Others either from an irregular 
rolling, or unequal action of the mollusk's 
mantle, become imperfectly round. Sometimes 
foreign particles attach themselves to a grow- 
ing pearl and becoming enveloped with it in 
future layers, make an uneven surface. 

Not infrequently two round pearls grow side 
by side until they touch, and together are 
enveloped by succeeding deposits; a twinned 
pearl is the result. For some reason, drop and 
pear shape pearls are seldom imperfect in shape. 
They may not be ideal but the form is usually 
good and the contour even and regular. This 
would imply that the simple rolling motion by 
the fish is more regular than the more compli- 
cated movements necessary to form a sphere. 

Imperfections in the texture and luster of 
the skin are said to be due to the movement of 
the growing pearl among the zones of the 
mollusk's mantle supplying the varied material 
for the epidermis, middle shell, and lining. The 
difficulties confronting this theory are explained 
in the chapter on the "Genesis of Pearls." 
8 113 



THE PEARL 

These imperfections consist generally of dead 
white chalky spots and streaks, distributed over 
the surface of the pearl, oftentimes so small as 
to escape notice except under the loup. Some- 
times these imperfections take the form of rings 
or bands which encircle the pearl. Pearls so 
marked are rarely if ever round, but ovoid, 
capsule, or cartridge shaped, and these chalky 
lines always encircle the cylinder; they never 
cross the dome. Rings around the dome occur, 
but the surface over them is of equal luster. 
Frequently the entire outer skin is without 
luster. Whether this arises from lack of some 
element in the exudations of the mollusk from 
which the pearl is created, or from an imperfect 
crystallization of the calcium carbonate, is not 
known. Such skins have the usual nacreous 
surface wave lines and are often lustrous 
immediately under the outer plates of the skin. 
It is possible that these chalky skins may 
result from the extraction of the pearl from the 
mollusk during a transitional stage, and that the 
presence of spots and streaks of that character, 
scattered over an otherwise lustrous surface, 
indicates that the secretions of the creature's 
114 



IMPERFECTIONS 

mantle did not hold some essential ingredi- 
ent in sufficient quantity to secure perfect 
crystallization and thereby cover the entire 
surface with transparent plates of calcium car- 
bonate. It may be also that a lack of essential 
elements in the creature's exudations, causes a 
cessation of the mantle's action which by all 
signs appears necessary for the production of 
transparent plates of nacre. 

"Peelers" are pearls of imperfect skins hav- 
ing indications of a better one underneath. 
Speculators buy these pearls at a low price and 
skin them. Sometimes they are rewarded by 
a smaller, but much more valuable pearl. 
Many times the under skins are no better or 
worse, or if better, the loss in size and weight, 
together with the cost of the work, make it 
unprofitable. 

Peeling should not be attempted with cylin- 
drical shaped pearls having chalky bands or 
rings around them, as such imperfections usu- 
ally penetrate to the interior in pearls of that 
character. Cylindrical pearls are almost invari- 
ably fresh-waters. The imperfections disclosed 
in the under skins by peeling, are commonly 

115 



THE PEARL 

irregularities of shape which have been rounded 
over to the improvement of the sphericity of 
the pearl. 

It is currently reported among the pearl 
hunters who fish the western and southern 
streams, that the finding of soft pearls is not 
infrequent. Upon opening the mussel, they 
sometimes see through the mantle of the 
creature, an apparently fine pearl which upon 
being taken out proves to be a soft jelly-like 
substance, the form of which is usually destroyed 
in squeezing it out. These men do not believe 
that a pearl is formed in layers, but think that 
all pearls are originally globules of a similar 
soft substance, hardening later to a compact 
solid ball and they call them "mussel eggs." 

Many pearls taken from the small thin- 
shelled varieties of the ocean mollusk, as for 
instance those of Venezuela, are devoid in part, 
or wholly, of the nacreous luster and instead 
have a china like or waxy luster, or a dead 
chalky skin. A large proportion of the Abalone 
pearls and baroques are lustrous only in part, 
one section having an earthenware appearance. 
Many appear to be formed of interstratified 
116 



IMPERFECTIONS 

layers of nacre and conchiolin. This construc- 
tion is very distinct in a formation peculiar to 
the Abalone, consisting of two nacreous shells 
joined perfectly at the edges, the inside walls 
of both being covered with rough black con- 
chiolin. 

Peculiarities in the quality of the nacre 
sometimes give an appearance of uneven shape 
which does not exist in reality. The light fall- 
ing upon such pearls produces a knobby effect, 
as though there were protuberances on the sur- 
face. The texture of others is such that when 
looked at squarely from the front they appear 
pyramidal in form, the rounded apex pointing 
toward the observer. Such pearls have a soft, 
waxy appearance generally. 

Another common imperfection consists of pits 
in the surface. These may result from various 
causes: in many cases from the dislodgement 
and rolling of a pearl which has been flattened 
during earlier stages by pressure in one position 
against the shell. Freed from this hindrance 
to spherical growth, the later concentric layers 
would round over the edge of the flat spot and 
thereby leave a pit, or cavity, in the centre. 

117 



THE PEARL 

In other cases pressure against the pearl, 
or the partial inclusion of foreign substances, 
especially of an organic nature which decay 
before being entirely covered, are possible 
causes. The reverse of this also occurs ; grains 
of sand or other minute particles adhering to 
the surface are covered by succeeding layers, 
thereby producing knobs, more or less observa- 
ble according to the lapse of time between their 
inclusion and the taking of the pearl from the 
oyster. 

If undisturbed, the fish will by the deposit 
of sufficient layers of nacre, fill the intervals 
and round the surface again. That this is 
done in time is shown by the occurrence of 
pearls having an even dome over a nucleus 
formed by a cluster of small round and irregular 
pearls enveloped together. In the process of 
skinning, or the removal of one or more of the 
layers of nacre, it is sometimes found that a 
depression has been filled by a thickening of 
the deposits in the hollow ; at other times extra 
layers fill the space, and these flaking out with 
the outer skin reveal the hidden irregularity 
which lay beneath the round surface, thus 
118 



IMPERFECTIONS 

necessitating the removal of several entire 
skins before a sphere is reached again. The 
under skins of some pearls appear to have failed 
to completely envelop the nucleus. The cavity 
resulting is then filled to an even surface and is 
succeeded by fully developed skins. It is, 
therefore, not certain that a pearl, perfect in 
form and skin when found, has been so at all 
stages of its growth. Broken pearls sometimes 
show not only differences of color but of thick- 
ness in the successive layers. The skins of 
fresh-water pearls especially are often very 
irregular in thickness. 

Many pearls have cracks in them. These 
generally escape the observation of inexpert 
persons, as they are usually under the outer 
layer. The fact that they rarely extend to the 
surface suggests that the solidification, or dry- 
ing out of the confined interior layers, may be 
the cause. These are considered detrimental 
and dangerous by dealers, so that pearls with 
cracks in them will not bring as high a price as 
they would if free from them. 

As cracked pearls are liable to break, espe- 
cially when pierced for stringing, it is well to 

IIQ 



THE PEARL 

avoid them, though the percentage of those 
which do break is small. In reality these cracks 
are more of an imperfection than a danger. 
Occasionally they are quite noticeable and are 
then a bad imperfection, but frequently a sharp 
eye or the loup only will detect them. Surface 
cracks however are quite perceptible. They 
are dangerous and are considered a serious 
imperfection. 

There is a peculiarity of rare occurrence 
which, as it is a departure from the ideal, may 
be termed an imperfection, though some regard 
it of value as unique. It is a similarity under 
the surface of some pearls to a metal which 
has been hammered into small flat spots identi- 
cal in appearance with the jewelry in vogue 
during the latter part of the 19th century made 
of "hammered gold." It is scarcely noticeable 
except under a loup, when the fine lines dividing 
the confused planes appear. These pearls are 
usually slightly pink or pinkish yellow. Some- 
times these planes resemble the facets on a 
cut diamond, generally lozenge shape, and 
often grouped similar to those on the under 
side of a diamond. 

120 



IMPERFECTIONS 

Small holes and blisters on the surface are 
quite common, but ordinarily they are scarcely 
perceptible to the naked eye. 

Many faults can be concealed by the jeweller 
when the pearl is mounted. Slightly buttoned 
pearls are set on a peg in the centre of a small 
shallow cup ; they then appear quite round. A 
spot, blister, or cavity, in a round pearl can 
be obliterated by pegging, or hidden in the 
setting. Great irregularities in the sphericity 
are lost to the eye when the gem is set in the 
prongs of a ring or other piece of jewelry. 
Pearls shaped like a double convex lens may be 
made to look round, or very nearly so, by pierc- 
ing them so that the flattened domes are brought 
in contact on the cord holding them together 
as a necklace. 

Piercing and stringing obliterates or hides 
many flaws. By careful selection, the jeweller 
can utilize pearls having a blemish by drilling 
through the spot where the flaw is, and if there 
is another on the opposite side that also will 
disappear. Other imperfections near the hole 
are often hidden in necklaces, as they cannot 
be seen when the pearls are held close together 

121 



THE PEARL 

on the string. It is for this reason that a string 
of pearls can often be bought for less than a 
like number of loose pearls apparently no better 
but which in reality are much more perfect 
in shape and free from flaws. Imperfections 
unseen in the strung pearls would be quite 
noticeable in the loose and undrilled. 

The irregularities of baroques cannot prop- 
erly be called imperfections; nevertheless a 
baroque is more valuable as it is free from 
indentations and approaches the round in 
appearance, or has sides which will give it a 
round face when mounted. The curious forms 
into which nature moulds many of them are 
very attractive, and as they lend themselves 
to the imaginative skill of the jeweller, are 
valuable. The faults common to them are 
rough places uncovered by nacre and colored 
streaks or spots, usually yellow tending to 
brown. These discolorations are confined gen- 
erally to the point where the baroque was 
attached to the shell, but not infrequently they 
extend far enough to leave no front which 
would be quite clean to the eye, when mounted. 

Oriental baroques as a rule are more lustrous, 



IMPERFECTIONS 

more even in shape and seldom discolored. 
Many of them are sufficiently regular to string 
for necklaces, and some can be used in jewelry 
so that on the face they appear like round, 
drop, or pear-shaped pearls. 



123 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 




1 iamu I i PEARL-SHELL 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

Pearls are found in certain marine and fresh- 
water mollusks. The former are usually termed 
oysters, though zoologists regard it in some 
instances as a misnomer. The sea-fish is the 
avicula margaritifera, a bivalve of which there 
are many varieties, all of similar shape and 
nature but differing widely in the size, weight, 
coloring, and quality of the shell. 

Of them, the genus "meleagrina" is the 
largest, has the heaviest shell, and furnishes the 
greatest quantity of the beautiful substance 
known as mother-of-pearl. The other extreme 
is the small, frail-shelled variety taken off the 
coast of Venezuela, called sometimes avicula 
squamulosa. Similar to this is the margari- 
tifera vulgaris, or avicula fucata, of Ceylon. 
The pearl oyster of the Persian Gulf though 
similar is somewhat larger. 

Exact and uniform classification of the pearl- 
bearing mollusks of the sea does not exist, 
nor is it necessary in this connection, as the 

127 



THE PEARL 

one distinctive feature which places them in 
the class under consideration is the possession 
of a nacreous lining to the shell, for no shell 
fish can produce a true pearl without it. The 
fresh water pearl-bearing mollusk is a mussel, 
unio margaritifera, also found in many varieties, 
but all characterized alike by the nacreous 
lining of the shell. 

These creatures, living upon the earth where 
water always covers it, create in the building 
of their habitations a material of great beauty, 
and sometimes produce gems which princes 
covet. Of the most delicate nature, they build 
for themselves out of the water by which they 
are surrounded, houses strong and enduring, 
fitted for their protection from the rough 
chances of life, yet so furnished within that they 
suffer no inconvenience from the rugged strength 
which encloses them. Few things are coarser 
than the exterior of these domiciles, but nothing 
in nature is finer or more exquisitely beautiful 
than the substance with which they are lined. 

The avicula margaritifera is a habitant of the 
coral reefs and shoals about the islands and 
shores of the tropics; there are none living 
128 




AUSTRALIAN PEARL-SHI I I 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

now in northern latitudes, though fossils of 
many species are found north of the present 
boundary of their habitations. An idea can be 
formed of the general shape and appearance of 
pearl-oyster shells by the neighboring illus- 
trations of three varieties. These show the 
two extremes of the marine mollusk, the 
meleagrina of the South Sea and Australia, and 
the squamulosa of Venezuela. 

In some of the small species, that of the 
Venezuelan Coast for instance, the outer shell 
is yellowish, with fan-like markings of dark 
reddish brown radiating from the boss or beak 
and growing darker as they near the lip. This 
shell is thin and frail. The nacreous lining is 
also thin but brilliantly iridescent and shows a 
series of fine lines and irregular fissure-like 
markings extending outward from the hinge 
and crossed by bands of color which curve with 
the outline of the lip edge of the shell. 

These colors, as brilliant but more evasive 
than the hues of the rainbow, are not due to 
the presence of a pigment; they arise from a 
phenomenon of light and form one of the most 
wonderful illustrations of the ease with which 

9 129 



THE PEARL 

our senses play tricks upon judgment and 
understanding. It is the striated surface and 
the very thin transparent plates of nacre, which 
cause a double interference and produce the 
beautiful iridescence peculiar to the lining of 
these shells. 

"Interference," as it is called, is an optical 
phenomenon arising from two causes. When 
light falls upon a sufficiently thin transparent 
surface covering a denser substratum not 
exactly parallel with it, part of the light is at 
once reflected. Of that which passes through 
to the under surface a part also is in turn re- 
flected through the first surface, and the con- 
fusion of rays or "interference" resulting, pro- 
duces to the eye the sensation of color. 

A familiar illustration is seen when a thin 
film of oil is spread over water. The other way 
in which iridescence by interference is pro- 
duced in shells, may be demonstrated by draw- 
ing fine lines close together on glass with a 
diamond. Light falling upon them will make 
the surface iridescent. Melted wax dropped 
upon this striated surface would, upon removal, 
show a like iridescence, reproduced with the 
130 




VENEZUELAN PEARL-SHELL, WIIH 1'F.AKl. ATTACHED 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

impression of the fine lines. The outer markings 
of the large Australian shell are similar to the 
small Venezuelan. The mother-of-pearl interior 
is not so iridescent. 

Pearls and the shells in which they grow are 
composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate 
or lime. A small percentage of organic matter 
and water are the other ingredients. 

As pearls are accidental and the result of a 
misdirection of normal processes, a general 
knowledge of those processes is necessary to an 
insight into the nature and genesis of the pearl, 
and as pearl shells and the pearls in them are 
constructed on the same general plan, a knowl- 
edge of the former will assist to a better under- 
standing of the gem and its eccentricities. The 
mother-of-pearl shell is built up of a series of 
calcium carbonate plates or prisms set in organic 
matter. In the material of the inner shell, the 
calcium carbonate greatly preponderates; on 
the outside of the shell, the organic matter is 
largely in excess. In the building of its shell, 
the animal deposits the finest material and does 
the best and most compact work where the 
house is in touch with itself, the walls becoming 

131 



THE PEARL 

coarser in construction and quality as they 
approach the outer surface. 

In the inside of the shell, the calcium car- 
bonate plates are very fine and transparent, 
and the animal membrane in which they are set 
is of extreme tenuity. In the middle shell these 
plates become more chalky and less compact ; in 
the exterior shell they are set in a thicker binding 
of organic matter and terminate outside in rough, 
horny fringes, completely covering the shell. 

In a general way therefore, the animal 
deposits the best of its secretions about itself 
and pushes out to the outer extremities, the 
coarser elements which are fitted to preserve 
the finer parts of the shell, as the finer parts of 
the shell are fitted to protect the delicate organ- 
ism which they enclose. The building of the 
shell is done by a membraneous covering of the 
fish which entirely envelops the body and is 
attached to the shell a short distance from the 
inner edge, leaving a rim of membrane free 
around the fish and the edges of the two valves. 
This membrane is called the mantle. It 
extracts lime from the water, and at different 
parts exudes modified solutions of it mixed with 
132 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

animal tissue, suitable for the construction of 
the various parts of the shell. 

The exterior of the shell or epidermis consists 
of conchiolin, an organic compound. It is a 
horny-looking substance, and in the large salt- 
water shells and in most of the fresh-water 
mussels, the nigger-head of the Mississippi 
Valley especially, it appears to the eye as a 
series of extensions, sometimes terminating in 
ridges, which curve about the umbo and spread 
to the edge of the shell, each extension coming 
from under the one preceding. In some vari- 
eties it is attached as an excrescence to the 
prismatic formation immediately under it, and 
may be easily detached in thin flakes : a rusty 
black in some, brownish-yellow in all on the 
inner surface and in some on the outside. The 
substance is generally opaque, but contains 
spots of which some are translucent, resembling 
horn or amber, while others arc more transpa- 
rent, similar in formation to the inner parts 
of the shell. 

In most of the marine and fresh-water vari- 
eties, unlike the nigger-head, the conchiolin 
exterior does not easily flake off. In these the 

133 



THE PEARL 

outer shell is composed of wave-like plate exten- 
sions, superimposed one upon the other reced- 
ingly from the lip to the umbo as in the others, 
but without the ridges, the plates being flat 
and the edges more irregular. These extensions 
are formed of a number of horizontal composite 
plates, which penetrate the shell to the mother- 
of-pearl. 

Not only may they be separated into thinner 
horizontal plates, but they divide vertically 
into prisms. Under the microscope the edge of 
a composite plate appears as a number of prisms 
placed side by side lengthwise across the plate 
edge, but showing dark, intersecting lines 
through the series where they divide as plates. 

These prisms appear on the face of the plates 
as translucent hexagons, separated by dark 
lines like a tessellated floor, and under a powerful 
microscope are seen to be composed of similar 
smaller particles, also joined together by a 
binder of tissue. The exposed parts of the 
epidermis plates, forming the outer skin of the 
shell, are more dense than the unexposed por- 
tions ; the hexagonal dividing lines are thick and 
blurred, and the faces are almost opaque, 
134 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

whereas in the unexposed parts, the faces are 
translucent and the hexagonal markings are 
clear and fine. 

Though constructed in the same way through- 
out, these plates appear to follow the general 
plan of shell construction, the preponderance of 
calcium carbonate in the interior parts gradu- 
ally changing to an excess of organic matter as 
they become exposed to form the outer part of 
the shell. The outer shell is in some varieties 
of a brownish-yellow with radiating fan-like 
markings of a deeper tint or red ; in others, dark 
gray and brown to almost black. Immediately 
under the surface, the plates become lighter in 
color, and finally almost white as they approach 
the nacreous interior. 

In all varieties the outer plates lie almost 
parallel with the extension of the shell, so that, 
lapping each other as they do, the outer contour 
of the shell is raised by a series of low steps from 
the edge to the umbo. These plates appear to 
have been superimposed one upon the other. 
On the contrary, they are added on the under 
side. Starting from the umbo, which is the 
oldest part, the shell is enlarged by the addition 

135 



THE PEARL 

of a succession of plates from beneath, each 
series extending a little beyond its predecessor, 
the rough conchiolin fringe at their extremities 
forming the outer covering of the shell. Fol- 
lowing the growth of the epidermis, the shell and 
the lining are also extended and built up, so 
that the entire shell is constantly pushed to 
dimensions necessary for the proper and com- 
modious housing of its growing tenant. 

Under the thin coat of epidermis on the Unio 
nigger-head, is a stratum of prism plates similar 
to the outer plates of the Venezuelan oyster. 
The prism faces are however smaller and the 
organic intersections are thicker and darker. 
Immediately under and abutting, is another 
series of plates which penetrate the shell 
almost horizontally at the lip end, to the lining ; 
diagonally at the thick part of the shell near 
the umbo to another series of the same kind. 
Here, owing to their diagonal set, upon peeling 
off the epidermis and the epidermis plates, the 
edges appear as a series of fine lines curving 
about and spreading out from the umbo. The 
plates set outward, away from the umbo, from 
the lower or inner edge. 
136 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

The effect is similar to that made by a pack 
of cards set diagonally so as to spread the edges 
sufficiently to show the merest trifle of the faces 
of the cards between the edges. The arrange- 
ment of these plates, not only produces a series 
of fine lines curving about the umbo, but, as 
the edges are slightly irregular, another series 
of fine lines cross the others at right angles, 
radiating from the umbo. This doubly striated 
surface, by interference, produces an iridescence 
more full of color than the mother-of-pearl of 
any but the thin shelled varieties. 

Though similar in construction, these plates 
differ from those of the epidermis. In some 
respects they suggest a transitional stage 
between the outer and inner shell. A plate, as 
it separates from the series and which appears 
as one line in the striated surface of plate edges, 
is in reality a number of very thin plates, or 
waves, so welded together that they cannot 
easily be separated. In this and the presence 
of fine surface lines marking the wave edges, 
they resemble the nacreous plates. 

The composite plate is opaque, but when 
split so that light can penetrate there appears 

137 



THE PEARL 

on the face, markings similar to the unexposed 
portions of the Venezuelan epidermis plates only 
the hexagonal faces are very much smaller and 
less distinct. So also the edge of the composite 
plate appears as series of prisms crossing it from 
face to face on the plate, in sets which show 
plainly, lines marking the juncture of the 
individual plates or waves. Although the 
individual plates or waves, can only be sepa- 
rated with great difficulty, together, as com- 
posite plates, they can be flaked off from the 
shell very easily, and they crumble and break 
into fragments under slight pressure. The 
component plates or waves are very thin, and 
appear under the microscope as white and 
translucent planes marked by outlines of the 
prism faces. 

The inner series of these plates as they near 
the nacreous lining become harder and more 
compact, and incline more and more to a 
horizontal position, so that at the point where 
they abut upon the nacre it is not easy to dis- 
tinguish them from the nacreous plates. At 
the thinner end of the shell, about the edges, 
the plates are all of this nature. They grow 
138 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

more friable and chalky as they incline to the 
perpendicular, where the series are more numer- 
ous and are situated at the thicker part of the 
shell about the umbo. 

Adjoining the inner edges of the middle shell 
plates is the nacreous lining. In this the 
calcium carbonate takes the same form as the 
mineral aragonite and is identical with it. As 
a mass however, the specific gravity is somewhat 
less, owing to the inclusion of organic matter 
with the mineral in the shell. This material is 
harder, finer, more compact, and contains less 
organic matter than that of which the middle 
and outer shell is composed. 

The lining is constructed of thin waves of 
transparent calcium carbonate set in animal 
tissue of great tenuity. This is the mother-of- 
pearl, and the gem differs from it only in its 
more or less rounded and independent forma- 
tion. The plates of which the lining is composed 
lie almost parallel to the plates of the epidermis. 
They are bent a little toward the interior at 
the inner surface of the shell, but the general 
sectional structure of a shell, cutting from the 
umbo to the lip, is fairly represented by that 

139 



THE PEARL 

stem of the letter X which extends from the 
right upper to the left lower, the diagonal line 
representing the middle shell; the horizontal 
lines at the extremities show the general trend 
of the epidermis and the nacreous lining. The 
diagonal trend downward is from the epidermis 
toward the boss-end of the shell. 

The nacreous plates, or mother-of-pearl, 
unlike those of the middle shell of the nigger- 
head, cannot be easily separated. On cutting 
them across the grain they appear as distinct 
and separate strata and show dividing lines, yet 
the mass is compact to a great degree. Upon 
being broken, these strata separate only at the 
edges, so that the entire set usually breaks 
diagonally, showing a small strip of the surface 
of each plate along the broken edge and forming 
a series of ragged edge steps. 

These plates or strata are composed of a great 
many very thin waves following one upon the 
other, and thereby producing series of fine, 
irregular lines upon the surface which, though 
trending generally in straight lines, curve and 
twist about as do the edges of water waves, when 
they run up on the sands of the sea-shore. It is 
140 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

the lapping of these thin transparent waves, 
and the minute undulations of the layer edges 
reflecting through the transparent plates, which 
produce the soft luster peculiar to the linings 
of the shells and the surface of pearls, and which 
is known as "pearly." 

The wave edges do not usually produce 
iridescence, but if the waves are very thin and 
transparent the undulating lines of many under 
waves following close upon each other appear 
on the surface, under the microscope, as dark 
lines when the light is passed through the skin, 
or silvery lines if the light be thrown upon it 
from above ; to the naked eye this becomes the 
tempered brilliancy of the pearl's orient. Under 
the microscope these waves appear to be con- 
structed of minute hexagonal plates or prisms 
set in animal membrane. 

A set of waves forming a plate, when broken 
at right angles to the trend of the wave, shows 
under the microscope a rough irregular edge, 
and the small plates of which they are composed 
sometimes appear separated individually from 
the mass though more often they are dislodged 
in clusters or strips. Broken with the trend of 



THE PEARL 

the wave edges, the plate breaks diagonally in 
steps with undulating edges, which correspond 
in appearance with the successive underlying 
waves as they are seen through the surface under 
the microscope. 

Although distinct dividing lines between the 
plates appear when a sectional cut is made 
across the grain, there is no indication of a 
division between the waves which make up the 
plates, and there is no apparent difference in 
the structure or compactness at the junction 
of the plates though a clean division can only 
be made there. It would appear, therefore, 
that the plates mark intervals in the process of 
construction and that the animal tissue is some- 
what thicker between the plates than between 
the waves of which they are composed, where 
the formative process has been continuous. 

In all parts of the shell, the calcium carbonate 
takes the hexagonal form : in the nacre, as thin 
waves composed of hexagonal faces, and in the 
middle shell and epidermis, as plates of hex- 
agonal particles grouped as hexagonal prisms 
whose terminations form the front and back of 
a plate. All the parts show a similar plan of 
142 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

construction, i.e., separable plates composed of 
thinner plates more compacted together, and 
these in turn of infinitesimal hexagons of cal- 
cium carbonate ; full plates, component plates, 
and particles, all alike surrounded by animal 
tissue. 

The shell is built up of secretions from the 
water in which the oyster lives, made by the 
mantle, a membraneous covering of the fish. 
The function of this mantle, in part, is to 
obtain from the water the elements required 
and exude it at different parts of its folds 
in the various forms required for the several 
parts of the shell. The necessary lime exists 
in the surrounding water and is supplied some- 
times by the calcareous beds upon which the 
oysters grow, and in other cases by surrounding 
vegetation. 

In all mother-of-pearl oysters and the fresh- 
water mussel unio, the lining is usually quite 
thick, but in some pearl-bearing species having 
small, frail shells, it is, though beautiful, too 
thin to be of use. In the meleagrina, this 
nacreous lining lies in the interior of the shel] 
like a congealed pearl wave, the smooth < 

143 



THE PEARL 

rim following the curve of the shell about an 
inch to an inch and a half within the jagged edge 
of the epidermis, as shown in the Manilla shell 
illustrated herewith, in which the lip, usually 
trimmed off for commercial purposes, is pre- 
served. The lining of the meleagrina is not as 
iridescent as that of the thin shell varieties. 

Thus the shell is being constantly enlarged at 
the edge, by a deposit- of the exudations of the 
mantle; conchiolin for the epidermis outside, 
lime for the prisms and inner layers of trans- 
parent plates, until the shell has attained its 
full growth in size, after which some varieties 
continue to lay on nacre only. 

The linings of some have a black rim, extend- 
ing from the hinge on one side, around the edge 
to the hinge on the other side. Viewed from the 
edge this dark band appears to be a sixteenth 
to half an inch wide (widest at the lip), fading 
out as it becomes lost under the thicker white 
nacre of the interior, but turn the shell up and 
look at it squarely from the front and it is black 
only around the extreme edge where it joins 
the epidermis. This kind of shell is found in 
the Pacific about the islands of Polynesia and is 
144 




MANILA PEAKI.-bHF.LL WITH THE LIP CON*KKVH< 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

called the black shell. In others the nacre is 
white to the edge. The iridescence of the 
white shell generally shows more play of color 
than that of the black. The white shell is 
usually somewhat flatter and broader than the 
black, and the epidermis is light yellowish- 
brown. This variety is found in great abun- 
dance on the northern and western coasts of 
Australia. The yellow, greenish and grayish 
shells (these colors refer to the edge of the 
lining), are similar in every way, but inferior, 
the yellow being the best of the three. 

The shell lining of a common form of the 
unio, or fresh water mussel pictured at page 146, 
like that of the meleagrina, shows little iri- 
descence except at the edges outside the pallial 
lines, where the nacre is comparatively thin, 
and at the striated surface of the scar or bed of 
the adductor muscle. In quality of color and 
luster it is inferior to the nacre of the sea fish, 
the white being more chalky in appearance and 
the luster less pearly. The material of which 
the shell is composed and its construction are 
however almost identical with that of the salt- 
water mollusk. In fact all shells are made of 
10 145 



THE PEARL 

the same ingredients and are constructed on the 
same general principles by the animals inhabit- 
ing them. 

This description of pearl shells has been given 
here because a knowledge of the shell enables 
one to understand the formation and character- 
istics of a true pearl, and the differences which 
exist between the gem and other similar forma- 
tions formed in pearl and other oysters, mussels, 
and univalves. Many such formations are 
found, having the elements and constructed 
like one or both of the outer parts of the shell, 
and some, in part like the lining, but these are 
not true pearls; the gem has neither the 
material nor construction of the middle and 
outer shell. Except that the pearl, because of 
its form, is rarely iridescent even to a slight 
degree, whereas the nacreous lining of some 
pearl-bearing shells is brilliantly so, the pearl 
and the nacre of the shell in which it grows, are 
essentially the same. Pearls are more or less 
spherical and independent formations, made by 
the fish on the same plan and from the same 
secretions with which it lines the shell, mis- 
directed by abnormal conditions. Those con- 
146 




MISSISSIPPI MC.f.KRHEM' I'l-AKI M 1 n 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

structed like any other part of the shell are not 
true pearls. 

The normal instinctive action of the mollusk 
is self-protective and adaptive. By the secre- 
tive action of its mantle it gathers from the 
water in which it lives, material to build a shell 
with a rough and rugged exterior for its enemies, 
and adapted to resist the chemical activities 
by which it is surrounded, and a perfectly 
smooth lining suitable as an interposition for its 
own delicate organism. 

Barring accidents, the building functions of 
the animal are employed only in the extension 
of the shell to meet the needs of its own growth 
and protection. But should a particle of 
secretion intended for the shell, harden within 
the folds of the oyster's mantle, or some parasite 
or other intruder present itself within the nacre- 
forming sphere, the instinctive action which 
lines the rougher part of the shell is also directed 
toward the foreigner, and it is at once covered 
with a like deposit. This is the birth of a pearl, 
and it grows layer by layer as long as it remains 
within the scope of the nacre building instinct. 
These layers, or skins as they are called, are 

147 



THE PEARL 

seldom iridescent. Occasionally a pearl of that 
character is found, but it is generally from 
a fresh water mussel, and the nacreous plates 
are of unusual tenuity. 

Although the pearl like the lining of the 
mollusk's shell is composed of carbonate of lime 
in series of thin waves lapping each other, each 
series constituting a plate or separable layer, 
there is a distinct difference in construction. 

Whereas the lining is a series of horizontal 
layers, the pearl is made up of concentric layers, 
each addition enveloping those preceding it. 
These skins however are not always absolutely 
distinct and separate. Instead of being like 
a succession of globular skins, each completely 
covered by its successor, the growth is often 
spiral and the construction is as if the nucleus 
had been rolled one, two, or three complete 
revolutions in a continuous plate of nacre, and 
the spiral envelope then finally merged into 
another plate and the process repeated. That 
which to a casual glance, therefore, appears to 
be six rings of nacre in a sectional cut, is in 
reality, several spirals of two or three turns 
each. 

148 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

It is also noticeable that whereas the wave 
edges, with all their eccentricities, trend gener- 
ally in one direction in the shell nacre, in the 
pearl, the lines twist and curl with a concentric 
tendency, as though the waves had been laid 
on by turning or rolling the pearl in the material 
of which it is composed. 

A white pearl on being cut in half shows a 
number of faint dark rings one within the other, 
from the surface to the nucleus in the centre; 
usually these rings occur at almost regular 
intervals. Upon close examination under the 
microscope, it will be seen that the inner part 
of these intervals is white, and that the color 
gradually changes to a yellowish tint which 
deepens until it culminates in that which appears 
as a dark line against the succeeding outer 
formation, the material of which is also white 
in the beginning. Although this change of 
color is very slight, a section between two rings 
will often show three distinct bands ; the inner 
white, the centre one faintly yellow and the 
outer one of a deeper tint. In some cases the 
dark concentric rings succeed each other very 
closely, in which case no abrupt changes of 

149 



THE PEARL 

color between them are noticeable. The 
material occupying the space between the rings 
is the sectional appearance of the skin of pearl. 
Upon applying a weak acid to the surface of an 
entire section of a pearl, it effervesces, and the 
inner colorless parts of the bands are at once 
attacked. After several hours the white inner 
part of the skins will show depressions where 
the calcium carbonate has been dissolved, and 
the outer parts of the skins will be marked by 
coarse black rings of undissolved animal tissue, 
similar in appearance to the epidermis of the 
shell. Now as these skins are made up of many 
very thin waves of calcium carbonate lapping 
each other and set in animal tissue, it would 
appear, therefore, that in the beginning these 
waves of transparent calcium carbonate are set 
in animal tissue of extreme tenuity and that 
the proportion of animal tissue increases with 
the growth of the skin until it reaches a stage 
provocative of a new skin, which begins with 
purer layers of the smoother crystallized mineral 
like its predecessor, and identical with the 
nacre of the shell. If this be so, it would account 
for the various tints of color and degrees of 
150 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

luster in white pearls and for the fact that the 
outer skins of very lustrous pearls are usually 
very thin also. Similar conditions exist in 
colored pearls, though the presence of a pig- 
ment makes them less noticeable. The skins of 
the haliotis pearl, which separate easily, usually 
show remarkable luster on the inner surface. 
Sometimes the nucleus is surrounded by a 
confused mass without apparent concentric 
markings, as though it had been enveloped in 
nacre which had solidified while stationary, 
or the first deposit shows the concentric skin 
arrangement at one segment of the circle only; 
followed by layers which appear in the depres- 
sions of the mass and are continued until they 
finally include the whole pearl. These layers 
are usually very thin, and the partial or seg- 
mentary layer formation is quite common in 
the early stages of the pearl's growth. At that 
period the concentric lines are also irregular, 
and in many cases where the curve is true, they 
extend about one quarter of the circumference 
only, another concentric skin being lapped on 
the ends, as though the globular skin had been 
formed in sections. 

151 



THE PEARL 

As before stated, it often happens that the 
skin division lines are spiral, as though the 
nucleus had been rolled one way in the nacreous 
material. In all cases the first deposits of a 
skin, that is the first of the nacreous waves of 
which a skin is composed, appear to be most 
transparent and lustrous. The component 
waves of nacre then gradually become more 
impregnated with animal tissue until they 
apparently reach a stage which induces either 
a rest on the part of the fish, to gather nacreous 
material, or a new deposit of less impure nacre, 
to protect itself from the increasing impurity 
of the pearl's skin. 

The skins undoubtedly mark certain stages 
in the formation of the pearl, though the skin 
and the nacreous waves of which it is composed 
are often confounded. In the skinning of pearls 
an entire skin is seldom peeled off. The surface 
is scraped, a number of the component waves 
being taken off, until the luster is improved and 
it is then supposed that the entire outer skin 
has been removed. A close examination how- 
ever, will show, by breakages in the surface of 
the waves, that the under skin with its peculiar 
152 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

and systematic arrangement of surface wave 
edges, has not been reached. 

A sectional view as seen in a half pearl would 
lead one to infer that a free pearl in the begin- 
ning lies stationary in the oyster; is turned or 
partially rolled as it grows larger; and finally, 
on attaining about a one grain size, is kept in 
constant motion with a concentric rolling in 
the nacreous exudations of the mantle which 
are deposited upon it. 

The nuclei of pearls were long thought to be 
grains of sand, but late and careful research 
has shown that in the majority of cases they 
are minute parasitic or domiciliary worms. 

Professor Herdman and James Hornell, after 
three consecutive inspections of the oyster 
banks in the Gulf of Manaar in 1902-3, stated 
in a paper contributed to the British Associa- 
tion for the advancement of science, that after 
examining many hundreds of oysters and 
decalcifying a large number of pearls, they had 
come to the conclusion, that grains of sand and 
other inorganic particles formed the nuclei of 
pearls only under exceptional circumstances, as 
for instance, when the shell was injured by the 

153 



THE PEARL 

breaking of the ears, which would enable sand 
to get into the interior. 

Pearls, or pearly excrescences on the interior 
of the shell, were due to the intrusion of leuco- 
dore, clione and other borers. Pearls found in 
the mussels, especially at the levator and pallial 
insertions, were formed around calcospherules, 
minute calcareous concretions produced in the 
tissues. But most of the fine pearls found free 
in the body of the Ceylon oyster, contained the 
remains of platyhelminthian parasites. These 
observations agree with the opinions formed, 
after careful study, by several eminent con- 
chologists. 

The action of the mollusk results differently 
as the object to be covered is free within the 
folds of the creature's mantle or, rising above 
the surface of the nacreous lining, presses upon 
it. If free, the intruder is enveloped by the 
animal's exudations and the deposits become 
concentric instead of level, or nearly so, as in 
the construction of the shell. It is said that the 
foreign substance acts as an irritant, causing the 
fish to exude its secretions abnormally in order 
to protect itself, and thereby creating a diseased 
154 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

condition; but from the fact that the process 
continues after the intruder has been enveloped 
and rendered as non-irritant as the natural 
lining of the shell, it would appear that the 
introduction of a foreign element simply draws 
upon it the normal impulse of the fish to cover 
with nacre anything with which it comes in 
contact, and that the method of doing it is 
similar to the instinctive rolling action of the 
tongue when some insoluble globule is put in 
the mouth, for not only do free pearls grow 
spherically, but a nucleus fast to the shell 
is not covered simply but it grows to a pearl, 
round and domelike, as nearly spherical as 
its juncture with the shell will permit. 

Not only is the composition of a pearl iden- 
tical with the lining of the shell where it is 
formed, but in a general way its appearance 
and characteristics are the same, except that 
free pearls are sometimes colored when the 
nacre of the shell is white. 

Button pearls, warts and baroques, grown 
fast to the shell, are usually like the surround- 
ing nacre in every respect. 

Salt-water pearls are characterized by the 
i55 



THE PEARL 

soft velvety luster of the oriental mother-of 
pearl, and fresh-waters, like the lining of the 
unio, have a somewhat thinner looking and 
more chalky texture. 

Abalone pearls have the irregular surface and 
coloring of the haliotis. Conch pearls resemble 
the delicate pink china-like lining of the shell, 
and clam pearls have the glazed earthenware 
appearance of the inside of a clam shell. The 
one material difference between a pearl and the 
lining of the shell in which it grows is, that in 
the one case the fish deposits the nacre over an 
even surface, and in the other wraps it around 
a central point with delicate precision in suc- 
cessive filmy layers. 

Dissection shows that a pearl during growth 
is liable to many mishaps. As with the human 
creature, a promising youth may end in a 
wretched maturity. J?t is also possible that an 
ugly period may be redeemed by later happen- 
ings, and the thing that was worthless in its 
early existence, be found in its age worthy of 
a place among the great gems. Pearls found 
with a dull, chalky exterior sometimes have 
lustrous skins beneath. Sometimes a bony- 
156 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

looking formation will be found, on breaking 
it, to have a variety of skins in the interior, 
some of which are very lustrous, others white 
and chalky, like the middle shell of the mollusk. 
Many of these dead pearls are formed through- 
out of this material. Others, perfectly spherical, 
are simply successive layers of prism groups 
like the conchiolin plates of the shell. Upon 
cutting these through the centre the skins are 
shown by the concentric rings marking their 
divisions and the prismatic formation appears 
as glistening lines radiating from the nucleus 
to the surface. Under the microscope these 
layers, which are thicker than the nacreous 
skins of true pearls, appear identical with the 
epidermis plates, except that they are concen- 
tric instead of flat, and are free from the coarse, 
rough, conchiolin deposit which forms the 
extreme outer coating of the shells. This 
deposit is also found, however, in some pearl 
formations, as many of the abalone baroques, 
especially when they are somewhat flat in 
shape, are like two pearl blisters joined, with 
the shell-building process reversed, the rough, 
black conchiolin being inside, and the nacre 

157 



THE PEARL 

outside. Undoubtedly pearls containing hidden 
qualities which made them once gems are 
thrown away as valueless, while others found 
just as nature had covered their earlier coarse- 
ness with a coat of beauty, are worn and 
excite much admiration for their skin-deep 
beauty. 

Though the successive skins of a pearl do 
not usually vary much in color, except in 
abalone pearls, it does happen occasionally, 
for the removal of dark yellow skins some- 
times discloses another of better color — a 
good pink for instance. From the sectional 
appearance of pearls it seems probable, that 
in the majority of cases the color of yellow 
pearls would be improved by the removal of 
the outer waves of the outer skin. 

Changes in shape sometimes occur during 
the growth of the pearl, the tendency being 
always toward the rounding of the surface. 
If the nucleus is fast to the shell, a dome 
is built over and around it. If the nucleus 
permits, the nacre is deposited not only over 
but under its edges to the point of contact with 
the shell, so that a button pearl connected with 

158 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

the shell at the centre only, results. Two pearls 
held against the shell and growing side by side 
are separately enveloped until they touch each 
other, after which they are included in single 
deposits of nacre and the depression between 
their domes becomes less distinct with each 
successive coating. Similarly, a cluster of small 
pearls lying together often forms the nucleus 
of a large rounded baroque or button pearl. 
Examination of such formations shows, that 
up to a certain period the pearls have a separate 
existence and growth. They then become 
joined in an irregular mass of twinned pearls, 
and finally, if allowed to remain in the oyster 
long enough, all individuality is lost in the 
tendency to round over. The same thing occurs 
when grains of sand or other intrusions become 
attached to a growing pearl. They are quite 
prominent when first included in the nacreous 
deposit and can be easily detached from the 
under pearl by breaking through the layer which 
binds them on; but they are soon obliterated 
by succeeding deposits. This filling-in process 
is sometimes accomplished by additional layers 
in the depression, sometimes by thicker layers. 

159 



THE PEARL 

It happens occasionally, when skinning a 
round pearl, that one of these fillings is uncov- 
ered and flakes out, leaving the pearl irregular, 
as it was in a former stage of its growth. 

Although pearls naturally grow spherically, 
many free pearls are more or less buttoned, that 
is, have a flat place from which the pearl rises 
like a dome, high or low. This happens when 
the pearl is held during growth by the fish 
against the shell with a part of its body inter- 
vening. According to circumstances, the pearl 
varies in form from slightly button, to a low 
dome, rising from a plane at its greatest diam- 
eter. Should a pearl of this description become 
dislodged, the rounding action of the mollusk 
would begin at once to obliterate the plane. 

If undisturbed, the process would result 
eventually in changing the button to a round 
or nearly round pearl, but should the pearl be 
taken from the fish before the metamorphosis 
is completed, a depression, or pit, would mar 
its contour. When borers intrude through the 
shell, the presentation is at once covered with 
nacre, and successive deposits are built up 
around it resulting in the nacreous wart known 
160 




VENI ZUE LAN I'KAR [.-mi ELI 



SHOWING BAROQUE 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

as a baroque. The rounding action of the 
mollusk is clearly shown in these excrescences, 
as the borer is not simply covered and levelled 
with the shell, but the slight elevation above 
the level of the lining receives a continuity of 
concentric deposits which finally raise it very 
considerably above the surface and separate it 
in construction from the lining to which it is 
attached. The shell herewith reproduced illus- 
trates the result. Borers pierced it at the thick 
part of the hinge, and burrowing down, entered 
the interior at the point where the baroque is 
shown. In rare instances, pearls attached to 
the shell do escape the concentric deposition, 
for they have been found buried under even 
layers of nacre, when the mother-of-pearl was 
cut up in the process of manufacture. 

From the appearance of the striae when they 
are divided lengthwise, pear-shaped pearls 
appear to have been spherical at one time. 
During a stage in the growth, the forming 
layer has curved away from the centre at one 
section of the sphere to a point. Succeeding 
layers, following the innovation, are deposited 
around the extension until it becomes suffi- 
ii 161 



THE PEARL 

ciently elongated to give the pearl the obovoid 
form. 

Many pearls are shaped like a capsule. The 
ends of most are rounded up to a full dome; 
some have somewhat natter ends; many are 
long and cylindrical like an ordinary capsule; 
others are short and appear in shape like two 
high button pearls joined at their bases ; while 
some resemble a cartridge, one end being almost 
flat and the other a somewhat pointed dome. 
It is noticeable that such pearls have a chalky 
line around the middle, and sometimes there 
is a lustrous band between two. These chalky 
lines are found, on peeling such a pearl, to 
extend through all the interior layers. Simi- 
larly, a high button joined at its entire circum- 
ference to the shell, if the junction is abrupt, 
has an intersecting chalky line, marking the 
juncture of the two, between the luster of the 
pearl and the shell lining. If the base of the 
pearl and the shell form a curve there is no 
chalky line of demarcation. 

This suggests that whenever the animal is 
unable to envelop the thing upon which the 
mantle deposits its secretions completely or is 
162 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

not in touch with every part of it, there is at 
the extremity of its action, an unnacreous 
deposit, corresponding to the deposit of con- 
chiolin or calcite, at the extreme edge of the 
shell which precedes the nacreous layers follow- 
ing within and slightly back of it. As the luster 
of the pearl arises from the transparency of the 
calcium carbonate modified by the undulating 
lines formed by the edges of the wave-plates, 
it may be that the lapping action of the mantle 
is necessary for the regular formation and 
crystallization of these plates, and that at 
points beyond the reach of this action, the 
depositions of the mantle are therefore not 
pearly. 

Much is necessarily conjectural as to the 
modus operandi by which the shell and the 
pearl are formed but the invariable tendency 
toward sphericity suggests that the nucleus 
of a pearl, when free within the mollusk's 
mantle, is not only enveloped in its exudations, 
but is either kept constantly moving with a 
rolling motion or lapped on all sides by the 
membrane which exudes upon it the nacreous 
material. 

163 



THE PEARL 

The instances cited of the short capsule 
shaped pearl and the high button joined to the 
shell, which seem to escape the nacreous deposit 
at the basis of the domes, favor the lapping or 
licking method of depositing the nacreous so- 
lution and this action by the mollusk would 
result in a constant rolling or turning motion 
imparted to the object if it were free within the 
creature's body. The licking and rolling action 
of the mollusk, modified by the conceivable 
influences of position in the shell, would account 
for the spherical form with all the various modi- 
fications in which the pearl is found. 

To account for the variation of quality which 
undoubtedly exists in the successive skins of 
some pearls, and the imperfections in the nacre 
of the same skin, the theory has been advanced 
that the secretions for the lining, the shell 
proper, and the epidermis, are exuded by differ- 
ent parts of the mantle; the pearl traverses 
during growth these different bands and its 
skins are modified by the secretions, as they 
come within the various zones of influence. But 
there are several facts which seem to oppose the 
theory. 

164 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

In the first place all these parts of the mantle 
which supply the material for the epidermis, 
the middle shell, and the lining, are enclosed 
within the shell and in touch with the lining yet 
each receives the exudations of that part of the 
mantle which supplies the material suitable for 
it, the mantle invariably pushing the coarser 
excretions outwardly to the shell's exterior. 
Again, whatever the quality of the skin of the 
pearl may be, it is never of conchiolin like the 
outer epidermis and though sometimes similar 
to the plates, of which the conchiolin is the 
exposed fringe, it always contains sufficient 
nacre to render the surface smooth. The fact 
that the skins of a pearl do sometimes corre- 
spond with the different parts of the shell, and 
that the same skin on the surface is occasionally 
partly nacreous and unnacreous, in connection 
with the variation of quality which exists in 
the internal composition of the skin, favors an 
idea that the mixed and variable quantity of 
nacre in the skins may be caused by the abnor- 
mal position of the mantle wrapped about the 
growing pearl which would thereby come more 
or less under the influence of the calcite and 

165 



THE PEARL 

conchiblin zones distorted from their normal 
extension and action. 

It has also been suggested that the oyster 
deposits the nacreous layer in a fluid state and 
then rests until the deposit hardens, when the 
process is repeated. To a certain extent this 
may be true though apparently it could not be 
a yearly process as pearls found in the small 
varieties of the avicula which mature in four 
to six years and die out in seven years, often 
contain a greater number of layers than the 
years of the mollusk's life, and no pearl is ever 
found with a soft exterior, though it seems 
possible that pearls with a dead white chalky 
exterior are taken from the oyster at a period 
when the crystallization of the outer skin has 
not been perfected, or that they have escaped 
some action, chemical or of the animal, necessary 
for the formation of the lustrous waves of nacre. 
Mr. Ludwig Stross, who has had much experience 
at the pearl fisheries, says that he has frequently 
found pearls of fair size in shells of the Lingah 
type which could not be over twelve to fifteen 
months old. Some of these pearls weighed fully 
three grains. As there are many apparent 
166 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

skins in a pearl of that size, the divisions 
could not mark either years, seasons, or breed- 
ing periods. In some experiments made by Mr. 
Stross, he found that borings made to the inte- 
rior of a living mollusk's shell were closed by a 
film of hard nacre in two days. 

The known facts about a pearl are these. It 
is composed of about ninety-two per cent, car- 
bonate of lime, about six per cent, organic 
matter and a little over two per cent, water in 
combination almost identical with the lining of 
the shell in which it grows and similar to the 
mineral aragonite. In construction it is usually 
a series of layers, which can sometimes be peeled 
off entirely, each one successively enveloping 
its predecessors apparently as an independent 
structure though itself composed of a number 
of thin lapping waves. Upon cutting through 
these layers the divisions appear as a series of 
rings and the intervals, though composed of 
many thin waves, appear compact. It grows 
spherically or with such modifications as the 
exigencies of position in the shell would reason- 
ably account for. These facts seem to justify 
the hypothesis that a foreign substance upon 

167 



THE PEARL 

entering the shell of a pearl oyster is at once 
enveloped or washed in the creature's exuda- 
tions ; that the organic matter of the secretions 
forms a filmy envelope in which the mineral 
contained in them is precipitated or crystal- 
lizes in wave-like layers of crystals of great 
tenuity, and that as these layers harden the 
process is repeated, and that during the process 
the creature either revolves the object, or about 
it, as it is free, or fastened to the shell. It is 
also possible that changes in the organic matter 
interwoven with the calcium carbonate may 
produce some chemical action resulting in the 
crystallization of the lime, and the crystalliza- 
tion in turn be provocative of another deposit, 
each process in turn being almost simultaneous 
and that the process is continued until a paucity 
of mineral in the exudations induces a rest for 
recuperation, after which the process is repeated, 
the result being a succession of composite skins 
as we find them. Whatever the cause, it is 
evident in all parts of the shell and in the pearl 
that continuity of construction is periodically 
arrested to be resumed upon exactly the same 
plan, except that the material used in the suc- 
168 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

ceeding layer of the pearl may be formed 
occasionally like another of the shell sections 
though usually it is like the preceding one. 

Marked differences in the same skin occur 
more frequently in the pearl formations of 
univalves. The skins of the abalone pearl 
especially, are frequently nacreous in part only. 

Pearl oysters are found in immense numbers 
on banks having a calcareous foundation. They 
are extraordinarily prolific, the spat of one 
oyster being estimated at upwards of several 
hundred thousands to millions, so that were it 
not for the natural enemies of their young and 
the liability of being swept away and scattered 
by storms before they have anchored, the banks 
would be overcrowded with the myriads pro- 
duced. Some idea of the numbers may be 
gained from the fact that during the fishing 
season the Ceylon divers raise about one million 
each day. 

The oysters are seldom found in water with 
a temperature below 75 degrees and they seem 
to thrive best in warm sheltered bays and inlets, 
especially when the banks are situated far from 
the equator. They attach themselves to the 

169 



THE PEARL 

beds by a bunch of tough threads which pass 
out through an aperture in the shells, near the 
hinge, and fasten on the rocks and stones; 
consequently the oysters do not lie flat, as might 
be supposed, but maintain an upright position, 
hinge down, lip end up, and the shell slightly 
open for the passage of the food-laden water, 
as the fresh-water mussels do. These threads 
are called the beard or byssus, and are composed 
of material similar to the epidermis of the shell. 

The abalone, which is a univalve, holds on to 
the rocks by the foot, a flat muscular appendage 
used for locomotion and also as an anchor on 
the principle of the leather toy known to boys 
as a sucker. 

Although pearls of value are found only in 
shells containing mother-of-pearl, a small pro- 
portion only of the mother-of-pearl shells con- 
tains pearls, and many varieties in which pearls 
are found do not yield enough nacre to make the 
shells valuable. The size of the meleagrina in 
some seas is remarkable. That at page 127, 
photographed from a Tuamotu shell, measures 
8| inches by 6| inches and weighs twenty-eight 
ounces troy. 

170 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

It is of the black-edge variety, contains a 
large quantity of fine quality mother-of-pearl, 
and has a beautiful small pearl attached to the 
lining near the center of the shell. Though large, 
it is not full grown. It is probably twelve to 
fourteen years old and would continue to lay 
on mother-of-pearl and so grow thicker and 
heavier until sixteen to eighteen years of age, 
when the oyster would reach maturity. The 
Australian white shell at page 129 is a young 
shell — that is, it has not attained the full thick- 
ness and weight of a mature shell. The shells 
at pages 131 and 161 are from the coast of 
Venezuela; they measure 2\ by 2\ inches and 
weigh seven pennyweights each. 

The common form of the pearl-bearing fresh- 
water mussel unio (nigger-head) is illustrated 
at page 146. This shell measures 3$ by 2| 
inches and weighs 3^ ounces. It is from the 
Middle West of the United States. In con- 
struction it resembles the meleagrina, the 
epidermis being dark, though not as rough as 
that of the oyster, and the lining white, show- 
ing slight iridescence around the lip-edge and 
to a greater degree on the adductor muscle 

171 



THE PEARL 

scar. The mother-of-pearl under the epidermis 
at the thick or hinge end is quite iridescent, and 
the lines which make the color play are plainly 
discernible under the loup. 

The largest and finest pearls, also the greatest 
number, are found usually in distorted shells. 
This has given rise to the idea that they are a 
symptom of disease in the fish, but having in 
mind the functions of the three zones of the 
creature's mantle by which they supply sepa- 
rately material for the epidermis, middle shell 
and lining, one may conceive that if, by some 
extraordinary cause, the secretions of one of 
these is largely withdrawn from the natural 
channel, the losing part of the shell would warp 
the normal growth of the others to its own 
dwarf age. 

When the nacre grows to a pearl, contrary to 
the intent of nature, instead of a lining for the 
shell endeavoring to keep pace with the growing 
oyster, the full-growing exterior is distorted in 
accommodating itself to the undersized lining. 
In view of the fact that an oyster sometimes 
contains a large number of pearls (one shell in 
New Caledonia contained 256) the diversion of 
172 



GENESIS OF PEARLS 

nacre sufficient to cover them, or to produce 
one large pearl, might reasonably be expected 
to result in a considerable distortion of the 
shell. It may also be that the displacement of 
the mantle, caused by the wrapping of itself 
about the growing pearl, interferes with the 
even deposit of shell material about the edges 
of the shell and so distorts it. 

Because deformed shells are more fruitful of 
pearls some have advocated the practice of 
throwing perfectly- formed shells back into the 
sea unopened, but, inasmuch as the mother-of- 
pearl of the shells often exceeds in value the 
pearls found in them, this is not likely to happen. 
Few fisheries could be made to pay if they were 
fished for the pearls alone. In many of them 
the shells yield 90 per cent, of the total value 
and are in fact the sole incentive for the invest- 
ment of the necessary capital. 

Luckily for the world's supply of pearls, how- 
ever, the disturbers of the mollusk which cause 
these gems by their intrusions appear to be 
more abundant in waters where the shell is 
valueless, the banks about Ceylon especially 
being infested with the cestodes which are 

173 



THE PEARL 

commonly the nuclei of Indian pearls. It is 
interesting also to learn that Mr. James Hornell 
(inspector of the pearl banks) finds these worms 
in another stage in the file-fish, which frequents 
the banks to prey upon the oysters, and con- 
fidently expects to find them in the adult stage 
in the shark, which in turn devours the file-fish. 

It is the opinion of Jameson of London and 
others, that the parasite which causes the forma- 
tion of pearls in the mussels of Europe is fre- 
quently the larva of distomum somaterce, from 
the eider-duck and scoter, and that the larva 
first inhabits Tapes, or the cockle, before getting 
into the mussel. 

Generally the nuclei appear to be the bodies 
or eggs of minute parasites — distoma, filaria, 
bucephalus, etc., and they vary in different 
localities according to the animal life of the 
neighborhood. In the still parts of the river 
Elster, where water-mites (Limnochares ano- 
dontce) were abundant, Kuchenmeister found 
that the mollusks contained more pearls. 



174 



METHODS OF FISHING 






METHODS OF FISHING 

The beds of the marine shell-fish from which 
pearls are taken lie always under water. Unlike 
others which are sometimes left exposed by the 
tides, to be gathered by man without difficulty, 
the pearl oyster is never left uncovered by the 
sea. It is found usually on shoals some distance 
from shore, sometimes but five to seven feet 
from the surface; more frequently fifteen to 
forty feet deep, and often one hundred to one 
hundred and twenty-five and even one hundred 
and fifty feet deep. 

Everywhere, then, man's quest for pearls is 
confronted by the heaving, restless waters of 
the sea, for the greater part of the year rough 
and turbulent, frequently lashed to furious 
racing by tropic tempests but through which 
he must in any case go to get them. In a few 
places where the beds lie in shallow inlets and 
sheltered bays they can be dredged, but almost 
universally the oysters are gathered by divers. 
During the greater part of the year, when storms 

12 177 



THE PEARL 

rage, diving is very dangerous if not quite 
impossible; but when the song of the sea is 
hushed to low crooning, and the gentle roll of 
the waves does no more than playfully slap 
the boats in passing, then in the seas where 
men dive for pearls they gather to the harvest 
of gems. 

There are two ways of diving — naked, and 
with dress. The former is the common method 
throughout the Orient and is practised to-day 
after the same manner that it was in the days 
of the Pharaohs and the Caesars, for the primi- 
tive method survives with few variations 
wherever eastern people control the fisheries. 

In the fishing season one sees now in the Red 
Sea and the Persian Gulf and about Ceylon, 
the same scenes as they were enacted there 
before Rome was a city, or France a nation, 
or the Macedonians overran Egypt. ' Naked 
divers, diving into fifteen to forty feet of water, 
use few aids. They grease their bodies, put 
greased cotton in the ears and a forked stick, 
or tortoise-shell clip, upon the nostrils to com- 
press them, hang a wide-mouthed wicker basket 
or net at the waist, and they are reaqly. 
178 



METHODS OF FISHING 

There are several methods of naked diving: 
head-first from a spring-board attached to the 
side of the boat, as the Malabar coast Hindus 
and some of the Egyptians do ; swimming to 
the bottom, as practised in the deep waters of 
the South Sea ; and dropping to the oyster bed 
with a stone. The latter is the most common 
way in Indian, Egyptian, and Arabian waters, 
especially where the banks lie in forty to fifty 
feet of water. 

Standing on the spring-board a few seconds 
to fill his lungs, the head-first diver suddenly 
plunges overboard and passes smoothly and 
rapidly through the water straight to the shoal 
below. Gathering quickly as many oysters as 
possible while his breath lasts, he places them 
in the net at his waist, attaches them to a con- 
venient rope hanging from the boat's side and 
shoots to the surface. There he recuperates by 
lazily floating about if the water is shallow, if 
deeper, by climbing back into the boat for his 
next plunge. If diving in pairs, one rests while 
his partner dives. 

Expert divers who dive singly have an 
attendant, a manduck, who attends to the lines 

179 



THE PEARL 

and looks out for his interests generally. The 
manduck drops a line with the oyster basket 
overboard and attaches to it another weighted 
with a forty to fifty pound stone. These are so 
fastened that they can be quickly released. The 
diver then drops into the water feet first and 
placing his foot in a loop in the line over the 
stone puts the basket on it, and releasing the 
lines, sinks to the bottom. Disengaging him- 
self, he proceeds to fill his basket while the 
attendant pulls up the stone and adjusts it for 
the next descent. When ready to return he 
signals his attendant, and holding on to the 
line with the basket is drawn to the surface, 
occasionally accelerating his own return by 
climbing the rope hand over hand at the same 
time. He rests in the water by the boat's side 
until ready to dive again, making seven or 
eight descents before climbing into the boat for 
a longer rest and sun-bath. 

The divers of India, Arabia and the Red Sea 
are natives of the Madras Presidency, de- 
scendants of Arab fishers at Jaffna in Ceylon, 
Arabs, and Egyptian Negroes. They travel 
long distances to the fisheries and there are 
180 



METHODS OF FISHING 

many of them between the Red Sea and Ceylon. 
At the last fishing in the Gulf of Manaar there 
were about forty-five hundred. Their dress 
during the time of the fishing consists of a loin 
cloth only. They have many hereditary and 
class superstitions, chief of which is their faith 
in shark-charmers. While waiting for the fish- 
ing to begin they also seek to get from the 
fates an inkling of the luck which will attend 
them. One common method is by breaking a 
cocoanut on the diving stone; the more clean 
and even the break, the better the luck. 

The mortality among divers at the fisheries 
is not great in Asiatic waters. Pneumonia is 
the greatest scourge, fatalities in diving being 
few. It is necessary however to select robust 
men for depths beyond forty feet; compara- 
tively few can work without injurious effects 
below that. 

Some curious mixtures of ancient days and 
present times, of the Pharaohs and infant 
industries, are seen. One may see a black slave 
diver in the Red Sea hanging over the edge of 
his boat taking observations through an old 
tin kerosene can with a bit of glass in one end of 

181 



THE PEARL 

it. This he sinks a little way in the water and 
gazes through it below. Presently the can is 
discarded, over he goes and returns shortly 
with a few shells; while near by a clumsy 
monster emerges and a diver in dress climbs 
into his boat. This use of modern tin cans and 
glass is adopted in seas where the shells are 
scattered and is common to pearl-divers the 
world over. 

The Moros have a method of fishing in very 
calm weather peculiar to themselves. They 
drop a three-prong catcher attached to a rattan 
rope upon the oyster bunches and so haul them 
up to the boat. This can only be done when the 
sea is perfectly still, as even a ripple would 
render a sight of the oysters impossible. Ordi- 
narily they dive to any depth down to twenty 
fathoms. 

Many attempts have been made to introduce 
dress-diving among the natives of the east but 
so far few have been successful. Results from 
experiments have not compared favorably with 
naked diving and so, with few exceptions, naked 
diving is still the rule in the east where natives 
control the fishings. 

182 



METHODS OF FISHING 

But of all, the Polynesians, both male and 
female, adhere most closely to the old way. 
Most of them will not even use a stone to assist 
the descent, and they probably reach greater 
depths than the naked divers of any other sea. 
Travellers report that, at a coral atoll in the 
Southern Pacific owned by the French govern- 
ment and known as Hikuereu, where the natives 
of Tahiti and other islands flock during the 
season to fish for pearls, the boys and girls and 
women are almost as expert as the men. 

Whole families congregate here, remaining 
during the season housed in huts framed of 
light cocoanut palms roofed with leaves. These 
they bring with them, some coming several 
hundred miles. The shells are mostly in sixty 
to seventy feet of water; some however are 
brought from a depth of one hundred feet. It 
is reported that a boy, on an exhibition dive, 
remained under water for two minutes and forty 
seconds, going to a depth of a little over one 
hundred feet. He was in sight all the time, the 
water being so transparent that he could be seen 
on the bottom, leisurely selecting pieces of coral 
for the officers of the ship above. These divers 

183 



THE PEARL 

hang in the water by one hand grasping the gun- 
wale of the boat while they examine the bottom 
for oysters through a glass which they hold 
below the surface in the other hand. 

When shells are sighted the glass is discarded, 
the lungs are filled several times and the air 
expelled slowly. Upon reaching a certain fit 
condition a long breath is taken until the lungs 
are inflated to their utmost capacity ; the diver 
then suddenly lets go, sinks a few feet below the 
surface, turns quickly and head-first swims 
rapidly to the bottom. 

Arriving there, he pulls himself along by 
grasping the coral branches and breaking the 
shells loose from their anchorage with his right 
hand, which is protected by a cloth wrapping, 
and stows them away in a cocoanut fibre basket 
slung over the shoulder. This done, he straight- 
ens himself and shoots to the surface with 
astonishing rapidity, seeming to leap up from 
the water as he arrives with almost sufficient 
impetus to carry him into the waiting canoe. 
In a few minutes he is ready to dive again. In 
some localities where divers were employed the 
women were preferred, not because they could 

184 



METHODS OF FISHING 

do better work always, but one could depend 
on them more safely. This was true of the 
divers in Torres Straits between Queensland 
and New Guinea. 

Before dress-diving was introduced these 
naked natives would dive into ten or twelve 
fathoms and bring up an oyster under each arm. 
The shells were large, weighing three to six 
pounds together and sometimes ten, but they 
contained few pearls and those were generally 
small. As they were brought up the oysters 
were searched for pearls and the fish used for 
food. The shells sold in Sydney then for eight 
to nine hundred dollars the ton. Years ago the 
women of Chile about the Bay of Concepcion 
claimed as a right the fishing for mussels. The 
men rowed them out to the beds and stuck long 
poles into the shoal below, down which the 
women would slide, returning with both hands 
full of mussels. The fishing was done from 
canoes, each holding one man and one woman. 
The women did not consider this a hardship but 
a privilege of which they were quite jealous, for 
they devoted the proceeds of their catch to the 
purchase of finery. 

185 



THE PEARL 

Wonderful stories are told of the great depths 
to which these naked divers go and the great 
length of time they can remain under water. 
Many of these tales are gross exaggerations, — 
yarns which have grown more wonderful with 
the telling, or the reports of careless or inex- 
perienced observers. As a matter of fact at most 
of the fisheries, twenty to thirty feet is good 
diving, and from forty to fifty feet is the maxi- 
mum depth. Sixty to eighty seconds is the aver- 
age limit of time they remain under water. If 
one will try to hold the breath for sixty seconds, 
even while remaining perfectly still, it will be 
at once understood that to do so while moving 
and working rapidly under water is a great feat. 
Nevertheless there have been instances undoubt- 
edly, where naked divers have gone to much 
greater depths and remained under for several 
minutes. Such cases are rare however and 
occur most frequently among the natives of the 
South Sea Islands, who, male and female, are 
expert divers from childhood and spend much 
of their lives in the water. 

Visitors have claimed that natives of the 
Tongarewa Islands, in longitude one hundred 
186 



METHODS OF FISHING 

and fifty-eight degrees W. and latitude nine 
degrees S., can do twenty to twenty-five fathoms 
and will even go deeper when tempted by the 
sight of a few oysters lying in a hole or depres- 
sion near by. Going below twenty-five fathoms 
results almost invariably in a sort of paralysis. 
The diver comes up howling and incapable of 
motion and unless companions at once seize 
and rub him vigorously with salt water until 
circulation is restored, a process lasting some- 
times many hours, he dives no more. If 
restored he will dive again next day, and such 
is their recklessness that the same temptation 
would lead him to take the risk again. 

Monsters abound in these waters. Should 
the diver be attacked by a devil-fish, shark, or 
sword-fish, he does not use a knife, as blood 
would attract other devils of the sea and 
becloud the water to his own confusion. Instead 
he seeks to avoid his enemy, and if the troubler 
is a sword-fish, tries to find shelter among the 
rocks. If the fish departs quickly, he escapes; 
but the time of a live man one hundred feet 
under water is short and sometimes the sword- 
fish over-stays it. 

187 



THE PEARL 

Helmets have been used to a certain extent 
in all parts of the world. Many of them were 
clumsy affairs, abhorred by all native divers, 
and were a bad introduction to the "dress" 
used in the large operations of big fisheries such 
as those of Australia and the Pacific coast of 
this continent. In the seas about Australia, 
modern appliances are being rapidly introduced. 
The Australians use them if possible, wherever 
they fish. On their own coast all diving is now 
done in dress ; but among some of the islands of 
the Pacific, where they are extending their 
interests, native prejudice is still able to hinder 
the use of it. 

Probably the chief reason for the general use 
of the dress on the Australian coast so early 
was that the shallows were soon exhausted, 
and naked diving was not successful beyond a 
depth of fifty feet. With the dress, a diver can 
work at much greater depths, remain under 
water an hour or two, and work all the year 
round. 

In fisheries like those of Ceylon, where the 
banks are seldom over forty feet deep and well 
known, being fished over and over again at one 
188 



METHODS OF FISHING 

season of the year only, at comparatively short 
intervals (four to six years), the necessity for 
dress-diving is less and the naked native diver 
will probably survive for many years although 
modern innovations are gradually creeping in 
even among the fisheries controlled by Orientals. 

The dress consists of a rubber suit all in one 
piece, which the diver gets into through the 
neck; leaden-soled boots, corselet to which the 
helmet is screwed, and chest and back weights. 
The diver dresses and steps on to the ladder 
hanging over the boat's side. The air-pipe, life- 
line, and helmet are attached, the man at the 
air-pump is set to work, and last of all the face 
glass is screwed up. 

A plunge, a splash, and he drops swiftly 
through the heaving billows to the quiet depths 
below, his life in the hands of the tender he has 
left in the boat. This man must feel the diver 
constantly by the life-line, keep him supplied 
with air and be ready for any of the emergen- 
cies always liable to arise. Only an alert man 
of good judgment and quick action should tend 
the life-line, though the most successful diver, 
a Japanese, on the Australian coast some years 

i8g 



THE PEARL 

ago, had the best tender of that section in the 
person of his wife. 

If it is the diver's first plunge, his ears and 
head will be racked with pain as he descends. 
This pain will leave him when he reaches 
bottom, but on his return to the surface he will 
find his nose and ears bleeding and will probably 
spit blood also. After this he will not experience 
pain in diving, but in common with nearly all 
divers will never be quite free from extreme 
irritability and bad temper while below; he 
will also have gained the diver's ability to blow 
smoke through the ears. 

Diving is injurious to the health and, if per- 
sisted in, produces deafness and incipient 
paralysis. Few of the divers on the Australian 
coast now are aborigines. Their antipathy to 
the dress amounted in many cases to a supersti- 
tion, so as the fishing was pushed out to deeper 
waters and the dress became a necessity, they 
were discarded with the old methods. It is said 
that in the old times diving had a peculiar effect 
upon the black-haired natives. By the end of 
the fishing season the color of their hair became 
yellow though the natural hue returned later. 
190 



METHODS OF FISHING 

With the dress, a diver can work comfortably 
at one hundred to a hundred and twenty-five 
feet, but men who know the fisheries doubt if 
that can be exceeded. Nor does it seem needful 
to go deeper, for in seas which have been 
explored at greater depths it is usually found 
that the bottom consists of ooze unsuitable for 
the life and growth of the oyster. 

Beyond those inherent to the art of diving, 
either method has its peculiar difficulties after 
bottom is reached. In naked diving, especially 
at the shoals of Ceylon and Venezuela, where 
the shells are small and abundant, it is simply 
a question of gathering as many as possible 
while the breath lasts and looking out for the 
dangerous fishes indigenous to tropical waters. 

Sharks are common in many of the pearl- 
oyster seas, but experienced divers do not fear 
them greatly, as the fish, formidable as it may 
appear, and dangerous as it is when it can come 
upon one unawares, is easily frightened. Many 
expert swimmers of the Indian and Pacific 
oceans do not hesitate to attack them in their 
own element. Usually vigorous splashing will 
frighten them away. The dress-divers of 

191 



THE PEARL 

Australia scare them off by allowing a jet of air 
to escape. As the bubbles start for him, the 
man-eating monster shoots away from them as 
if terror-stricken. 

The diamond-flounder of the Pacific and 
Indian oceans, a huge flat fish with a habit of 
seizing its prey between the side fins and 
crushing it, is more dangerous. If a dress- 
diver of experience sees one of these approach- 
ing, he is apt to shut off the air-escape of his 
helmet and signal to his tender that he is 
coming to the surface as fast as he can get 
there. 

The rock-cod also is sometimes troublesome 
on the Australian coast. Occasionally he 
attains an enormous size. This fish lies hidden 
in submarine caves, his head protruding and 
his monstrous jaws yawning vertically wide 
like an entrance to the cave itself. But acci- 
dents from the denizens of the sea are com- 
paratively few; the physical results of deep- 
sea diving are more to be dreaded, for paralysis 
hovers close to the thirty-fathom line. 

Although dress-diving has the advantage 
over naked diving that it gives a supply of air 
192 



METHODS OF FISHING 

to breathe while at work, it also entails dangers 
and difficulties from which the old method is 
free. An imperfect supply of air may cause the 
bursting of a blood-vessel. Fouling of the lines 
might not only cut off the air supply entirely, 
but prevent the man, anchored by his heavy 
dress under twenty fathoms of water more or 
less, from signalling the man at the life-line. 
As on dry land, there are holes and precipices 
at the bottom of the sea to be avoided. 

In some seas there are swift currents and as 
the dress-diver remains under water for some 
time, instead of returning at once like his naked 
brother, he must keep moving with it, and as 
he moves, the boat must move in unison and 
his tender must keep the lines free. Both diver 
and tender must be skilful and alert to do this. 
Nor is it always easy in deep-sea diving to find 
the oysters. They lie in scattered bunches, 
often hidden by sponges, coral or other sea 
growths, their gray or moss-grown exteriors 
scarcely to be distinguished from the surround- 
ings ; if in mud, only an inch or so of the sharp 
lips of the two valves projecting above the 
surface are in evidence; while if in stooping to 
13 193 



THE PEARL 

gather the shells he should fall, he is likely to 
shoot feet foremost to the surface. 

Though dress-diving has heretofore been con- 
fined almost entirely to white men, the Japan- 
ese, Chinese, Malays, South Sea Islanders, and 
others in different places, are now being edu- 
cated to it chiefly through an Australian 
fishery. 

At the northwestern corner of Australia, a 
thousand miles from the nearest railroad and 
ten days from the nearest port, there are pearl- 
fisheries where the climate is so hot that white 
men cannot be obtained for the work. Colored 
men are shipped there from Singapore to man 
the boats, the pearl-fishers giving a bond to the 
government of ioo pounds sterling for each man 
employed, as a guarantee that he will not go 
to other parts of the state. A fleet of about 
three hundred boats and fifteen hundred men 
are employed there, the supply station being at 
Broome township. 

In all things, when once the improvements of 

science gain a foothold anywhere in the world, 

the whole earth succumbs eventually to their 

advantages, and so with diving ; the habits and 

194 



METHODS OF FISHING 

prejudices of thousands of years will be forced 
by commercial pressure to submit themselves 
to modern appliances, and the picturesque 
nakedness of the swarthy orient will soon be 
hidden under the ugly but useful dress of 
civilization. 



105 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL OYSTER 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL 
OYSTER 

The Pearl Oyster is found in more or less 
abundance on the shoals and reefs about the 
shores of every land within a belt of the earth 
lying between 30 degrees north and south of 
the equator. Coral reefs and limestone founda- 
tions usually form the beds on which they 
propagate. Beyond these limits the abalone is 
found at Japan, on the California coast, Queen 
Charlotte's Island, the Cape, Australia, New 
Zealand, China, about the English Channel, 
and on the coast of France, where the shores are 
washed by equatorial currents. It exists also 
on the shores of India and the Canary Islands. 

The largest and heaviest shells, which yield 
fine mother-of-pearl most abundantly arc con- 
fined almost entirely to the Pacific Ocean within 
twenty degrees south of the equator. The best 
white shells come from the northern shores of 
Australia and the Aroo islands. The best black- 
shells are found about Tahiti, the Gambier 

199 



THE PEARL 

Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago. Of 
the big yellow variety, the best are obtained in 
the Merguian Archipelago and Dutch Indies. 
The shells of this district at Ceram, Bat j an, 
and elsewhere, vary somewhat but the bulk 
of them are yellow. 

Beginning with the east coast of Africa, the 
pearl oyster is found in the Red Sea, where it 
has been fished for ages. The shell here is of 
medium size and weight ; much larger than 
those of Venezuela, Ceylon, or the Persian Gulf 
and smaller than the shells of the Pacific. 
The mother-of-pearl is not of the finest quality 
and is used now for inferior work only. It was 
more used formerly but since the fresh-water 
unio shell of the United States came into the 
market, it has displaced to a great degree the 
Egyptian and Panama shells. The inner edge 
of the Red Sea shell is of a greenish gray color. 

South of the Red Sea, on the East of the 
African coast, pearl oysters are found in a 
number of places between Zanzibar and Inham- 
bane, particularly at the Bazaruto Islands, but 
nowhere in sufficient abundance to develop the 
fishing for them into a regular industry. Good 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL OYSTER 

mother-of-pearl is abundant on the German East 
African coast, but the oysters carry few pearls. 

Travelling east, they are next found in large 
numbers in that arm of the Arabian Sea known 
as the Persian Gulf. Here they have existed 
for many centuries. The mollusk is of the 
smaller species and the shells are known in the 
market as Lingahs, from the name of the centre 
of the pearl trade in this district. The shells 
are of no commercial importance. 

After these come the ancient fisheries of 
India, the most prolific in the world. The 
oysters here are smaller than those of the 
Arabian Sea and the shells are of no value, but 
they mature rapidly and yield great quantities 
of pearls. Myriads of them cover the shoals and 
banks between the coast of India, at the South- 
eastern point, and Ceylon, and as the beds are 
under government supervision, they cannot be 
destroyed by the reckless fishing of immature 
oysters. 

Crossing the Bay of Bengal and the Malay 
Peninsula, between longitudes ioo and 120 
degrees E., there are pearl oysters on the coasts 
of China, the Merguian Archipelago and western 

201 



THE PEARL 

Australia. Between longitudes 120 degrees E. 
and 150 degrees E., these mollusks nourish on 
many coasts, including those of Japan, the Sulu 
Archipelago, the Dutch Indies, the Spice 
Islands, the Banda Islands, the Aroo Islands, 
New Guinea and northern Australia. 

The Australian shells are large and the lining 
is white and fine. As shell fisheries they are 
the largest in the world and although the value 
of the pearls found is small compared with the 
amount realized from the sale of the shells it is 
considerable and growing. The Aroo shells are 
white like the Australian. Those from the 
Banda Islands are a smaller black-edge shell. 
Most of the others like the Manila shell of the 
Sulu Islands, are yellow. 

At longitude 165 degrees E. the fisheries of 
New Caledonia are becoming notable for the 
number of fine fancy colored pearls found there. 
Both avicula margaritifera and meleagrina 
margaritifera are taken off the west coast. 

In the waters of the Fiji Islands, longitude 
180 degrees E. pearl oysters of the black edge 
shell variety similar to the Bandas but a little 
larger are fairly abundant. 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL OYSTER 

Fine shells, often containing very beautiful 
pearls, are taken off the coasts of Tahiti, 
Gambier, and throughout the Tuamotu Archi- 
pelago, lying between longitudes 130 degrees 
W. and 150 degrees W. The shells are of the 
black-edge type, large and heavy. The nacre 
is thick and has a particularly mellow luster; 
throughout this section both shells and pearls 
rank among the best. 

All over the South Sea, pearl oysters are 
found about the islands and in the lagoons 
within the atolls which stud it, but in quantities 
too small in many places to induce capital to 
establish fisheries. Fishing for them is confined 
therefore to native divers who are rewarded by 
the occasional find of a few pearls, which often 
they sell at ridiculous prices to the stray traders 
who may chance to come their way. 

This eastward journey now brings us to the 
Pacific coast of the American continent. Here 
the pearl-bearing mollusk is found on the shores 
of Lower California, about the Islands of the 
Gulf of California, at various points on the 
Mexican coast-line south to Acapulco and at 
Panama. They exist also on the coast of 

203 



THE PEARL 

Ecuador but of late years fishing has not proved 
remunerative and it is now carried on in a 
desultory way only. They are found also on 
the western coast of Nicaragua. 

The Mexican shells known as Panama shell 
or bullock shell have a dark, dirty, greenish rim 
and are much less valuable than the white or 
black shell. Similarly, dark, slaty-colored 
pearls are known as Panamas because many 
pearls taken on this coast are of that character. 
This color tendency however often results more 
advantageously as many of the pearls are 
sufficiently dark to be classed as fancy and some 
beautiful black and red pearls are found in 
these waters. Panama pearls also have the 
reputation of being softer than others. There 
are pearl oysters also on the Peruvian coast but 
this section has not yet been fished. 

On the Atlantic side of America pearl oysters 
are abundant in the Gulf of Campeche and on 
the shoals about the islands and shores of 
Venezuela. The shells of Central America are 
similar to the Panamas only more yellow, while 
those of Venezuela are small and valueless. 
Between the east coast of America and the Red 
204 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL OYSTER 

Sea are no fisheries save at Haiti, for no dis- 
coveries of any importance have been made on 
the western coast of Africa. 

Consideration of these homes of the pearl 
oyster shows it to be a tropical fish and that it 
attains greater dimensions in the Pacific Ocean 
and near the equator than elsewhere. Beyond 
30 degrees north it is found only at two points, 
the western shore of America and on the Japan- 
ese coast. These shores are washed by equa- 
torial currents. The small varieties of the 
Indian seas and Venezuela, mature rapidly in 
four to six years, and if not taken they die out 
after the seventh year. The meleagrina of the 
Pacific however, though it attains its full size 
in six to eight years, continues to lay on shell- 
nacre up to twelve and even twenty years. 
A shell which is of good size but comparatively 
thin is called by the dealers in mother-of-pearl 
a "young shell." The Australian pictured at 
page 129 is such an one. The Tuamotu at 
page 127 is not full grown but well along in 
years, probably fourteen to sixteen years old. 

Of the sea mollusks yielding formations 
which, though not true pearls, are so called, 

205 



THE PEARL 

the conch, a large univalve fountain-shell-fish 
(Strombus gigas), is a native of the West Indies. 
Another, a gasteropod, the ear-shell (Haliotis) 
known in the United States as the abalone, is 
found on the coasts of California, Japan, the 
English Channel Islands and elsewhere. The 
Calif ornians are divided into three classes, the 
blue backs, about six inches long, and green and 
red ears, which are half as large again. Pinnas 
yielding black seed pearls are found south of 
the Island of Mafia on the east coast of Africa. 
On the banks and shoals between Mafia and 
Zanzibar is a red mussel from which white 
pearls are taken. 

The fresh-water pearl-bearing mussel, the 
unio, unlike the sea oyster is most abundant 
north of 30 degrees N. In China and the 
Hawaiian Island Oahu it is found a little to the 
south of 30 degrees N., and it has been dis- 
covered lately in Southern Rhodesia a little 
north of 30 degrees S., but the countries and 
streams in which the unio is plentiful and where 
it yields the most pearls lie within latitudes 
30 degrees N. and 60 degrees N. They have 
been taken from the streams of Great Britain 
206 



HABITAT OF THE PEARL OYSTER 

since the times when the Romans had a colony 
there. They exist in Bohemia, Saxony, Bavaria, 
Lapland, Canada, Labrador and in great quanti- 
ties in the United States. 



207 



PEARL FISHERIES 



PEARL FISHERIES 

The pearl fisheries of the Red Sea are at 
Lohia. At the lower end of the Red Sea, at 
Massawa on the African side, and at Lohia on 
the Arabian side, are a number of small barren 
islands ; the banks lie in shallow water between 
them. The industry is financed by merchants, 
principally natives of Bombay, India, who in 
partnership with the Bedouin boat-owners, 
control the fishing. The Bedouin captain takes 
with him a few Arabs to man the boat and a 
number of black slaves as divers. The shells 
have a market value for mother-of-pearl but 
the quality is inferior. They have a greenish- 
gray edge and are fairly heavy and formerly 
they were much in demand. 

Of late years the fresh-water unio shells have 
replaced them to a certain extent for cheap 
material but the shells are yet about ninety 
per cent, of the value of the fishings. Returns 
show exports of pearls averaging one hundred 
thousand dollars per annum but as a large 



THE PEARL 

number go direct to Bombay and are not 
reported, this does not fairly represent the 
extent of the industry. 

The beds vary in depth, thirty to forty feet 
being the maximum depth fished. Naked 
native diving is the rule, but the Italian govern- 
ment has lately farmed out concessions at 
Dahlak and Farsan where they are experiment- 
ing with helmets. The fishing season is from 
the beginning of March to the end of May. 

The arm of the Arabian sea lying between 
Arabia and Persia known as the Persian Gulf, 
has always been rich in pearl-oysters and is a 
prolific source of supply to-day. These banks 
are fished chiefly for the pearls. The shell, 
though larger than the Ceylon, is of the 
"Lingah" class as it is called, and is of little 
value for mother-of-pearl. 

Though pearl-oysters are found all along the 
coast of Arabia, the most productive shoals are 
between the Islands of Halool and Katar. 
These shoals commence at the Island of Bahrein 
immediately off the Arab coast near the centre 
of the gulf and continue east and south along 
the district of Katar for nearly two hundred 

212 



PEARL FISHERIES 

miles after which the banks are lost in deep 
water. The chief centre of the pearl trade is 
Lingah, hence the name given to the shells of 
this district. Most of the pearls go to Bombay 
and are known as Bombay pearls, many of 
them having a distinctly yellow tint. The 
whitest and finest go to Bagdad and eventually 
the best go to Europe. India takes the irregular 
ones and China gets the seed pearls. 

The principal banks are at Bahrein. This 
island is the most important one of a group 
situated in an indentation of the Arabian coast 
and is about seventy miles long and twenty- 
five broad. 

Small boats carrying from five to fifteen men 
fish the shallows near the coast, but larger boats, 
manned by from twenty to fifty men, put out 
for the banks further from shore into deep 
water. These remain out during the entire 
season coming into port once or twice only for 
supplies. The owners of the boats are generally 
poor. They depend upon the dealers for 
advances at the beginning of the season for 
supplies, and many of them are therefore 
practically in a state of bondage. 

213 



THE PEARL 

When the deep-water boats reach the fishing 
grounds, half the crew is selected for diving. 
The diver uses a small braided mat basket as a 
receptacle for the shells and has a long line 
attached to him by which he can signal to the 
man in the boat who manages it. There is a 
man to each diver's line. Except for the short 
intervals at the surface necessary for air and 
rest, the divers remain in the water for hours. 
The oyster beds vary in depth from six to 
eighteen feet in the shallows, to forty feet at 
the banks. 

The duration of the fishing season depends 
on the temperature of the water. It lasts 
usually through July, August, and September, 
though some of the larger boats remain out 
from the end of June until the beginning of 
October. 

The pearls are sold by weight, sales being 
made sometimes while at sea and a duty 
equalling about twenty per cent, is levied on the 
spot. A large number of Hindu traders come 
during the season to buy, returning to India 
at the close as they have done for centuries. 

No exact statistics of the output of these 
214 



PEARL FISHERIES 

fisheries are to be had but the yield is said to 
average well; some authorities placing the 
value of the fisheries of the entire district in 
the sixties at nearly two millions of dollars per 
annum, and the number of boats engaged at 
4,000 to 5,000. 

As ancient as those of the Arabian sea and 
even more important are the pearl fisheries of 
India. These are also fished for the pearls, the 
shells of these waters being smaller than those 
of the Persian Gulf and valueless for mother-of- 
pearl. The pearls however average whiter than 
those of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. 
Although equally fine pearls are found in other 
waters the Ceylon, or Madras pearls as they 
are called, have long been esteemed the best 
because of their good average color and quality. 
These banks are situated in the Gulf of Manaar 
between the southern point of India and the 
island of Ceylon. 

On the Madras (India) side the banks are off 
Tinnevalli and Madura at Tuticorin. The 
Indian revenue realized a profit of £13,000 
from a fishing here in 1822, and £10,000 
from another in 1830. Examinations showed 

215 



THE PEARL 

that there were not sufficient oysters for profit- 
able fishing after that until i860, when the 
government netted ^20,000, and a fishing the 
following year, 1861, was equally successful. 
The banks failed in 1862 and there was no 
fishery until 1874. Pollution of the water from 
the Indian shores has been detrimental to these 
banks and they are now of little importance. 

On the Ceylon side, the banks lie six to eight 
miles off the west shore and a little south of the 
island of Manaar. Fishing has been an industry 
from early times before history began. There 
are records of these fisheries under the kings 
of Kandy and later by the Portuguese after 
they took possession of Ceylon about 1505, to 
1655 when the island passed into the hands of 
the Dutch. In old times they were called the 
fisheries of Aripo after a fort on the coast. Not 
until the English gained control were the 
fisheries so managed that definite knowledge of 
the results could be obtained. 

After the Dutch gave way to the English, 

until 1903, these fisheries had yielded a net 

income to the government of over ;£ 1,000, 000. 

This covered a period of over one hundred 

216 



PEARL FISHERIES 

years, as the British occupied Ceylon in 1796. 
In the early years of this period and prior to 
that, the fishings, or rights to fish, were sold to 
the highest bidders, usually Hindu merchants. 
In 1796 the fishing brought £60,000. The 
year after the British took possession, 1797, it 
realized £110,000 that amount having been 
paid by Candappa Chetty, a native of Jaffna 
for the fishery right, and for that of 1798, the 
same renter paid £140,000. 

These fishings, which were prolonged, so 
exhausted the banks that the fishery of 1799 
yielded but £30,000. From 1799 to 1802 the 
yearly product ranged from £12,000 to £55,000. 
In 1804 they were leased for £120,000 but 
from that time on declined so that in 1828 
they brought only £30,612. There were no 
fishings from 1820 to 1827, nor in 1834 and 
after 1837, until 1855. The supply failed in 
1864 and for several succeeding years, and again 
for a decade, after five successful fishings from 
1887 to 1 89 1. The average yearly profit up to 
1 89 1 was about £34,000. 

The Ceylon and Madras fisheries are now in 
charge of a government officer, who spends a 

217 



THE PEARL 

part of each year inspecting the various banks 
so as to be informed as to the whereabouts of 
mature oysters, and the location and progress 
of the young and immature. They keep a 
record of their condition at different periods, 
and regulate the fisheries by permitting fishing 
only when they consider the banks to be ripe 
for it. 

The oysters mature in from four to six years 
so that ordinarily a bank may be fished once in 
that period, but it sometimes happens that the 
young oysters are swept away by violent storms 
or crowded out by natural enemies. In 1901 
the Ceylon banks were found to be in a bad way, 
there were plenty of young oysters but none 
full-grown. The government officers could not 
account for the condition, and in response to a 
report of the facts the government sent Prof. 
W. A. Herdman to Ceylon in 1902. He exam- 
ined the whole of the bottom of the Gulf of 
Manaar and discovered banks on which were 
full-grown oysters, so that a fishing was fixed 
for the 23rd of February 1903. Weather pre- 
vented commencement until the second of 
March, when fishing began and lasted forty- 
218 



PEARL FISHERIES 

two working days until April the fourteenth. 
The fishings take place in March and April 
because the sea is usually calm at that period. 

The banks lie in five to ten fathoms over a 
shallow area nearly fifty miles long by twenty 
miles broad, opposite Aripo. A steep declivity 
on the western edge gives the sea a depth of one 
hundred fathoms in a few miles. In the centre 
of the southern part of the Gulf of Manaar, 
west of the Chilaw pearl-banks, the sea is one 
to two thousand fathoms deep. 

Of all the paars, or oyster beds (paar means 
rock or hard bottom) the Periya paar is the 
largest. It is about eleven nautical miles long 
and from one to two miles broad. Situated in 
about five to ten fathoms close to the top of 
the western slope of the shallows, and running 
north and south about twenty miles from land, 
it is exposed to the southwest monsoon which 
runs up toward the Bay of Bengal for about 
six months of the year. The natives call this 
the mother-paar, believing that the young 
oysters are carried from it to the other paars, 
which are thus stocked at its expense. 

Between [880 and 1902 twenty-one examina- 
2ig 



THE PEARL 

tions showed that the Periya paar had been 
naturally stocked eleven times with enormous 
quantities of young oysters, which as regularly 
disappeared before they were old enough to 
yield a fishing. The most reliable paars are in 
the Cheval district and it is probable that the 
government, acting on the suggestion of Prof. 
Herdman, will hereafter dredge the breeding 
Periya paar of its young oysters and plant them 
where they will be able to mature. It is esti- 
mated that many millions of millions of oysters 
have been lost from this paar during the last 
twenty-five years. 

A fishing is not only a matter of commercial 
importance, but of wide-spread interest among 
the natives of Ceylon and India. The romance 
of the situation, the hope of gain, the great 
gathering of people from many and far-off 
countries, the opportunities for barter, the 
possibilities of securing priceless gems for little, 
and for making money quickly, all appeal to 
the oriental mind. 

For this they will endure the discomforts of 
long and painful journeys and the dangers of 
crowded camp life with a recklessness that con- 



PEARL FISHERIES 

trasts curiously with the wild panics into which 
they are sometimes thrown, as for instance in 
1889, when the Ceylon fishing collapsed on 
account of cholera. In a few hours a fleet of 
200 boats disappeared, the camp was burned, 
and the multitude gone. 

Great precautions are taken by the govern- 
ment officials in every direction. When they 
have decided that there are banks in condition 
to be fished, notice of a fishing is advertised. 
The following notification of the fishery for 
1904 is an illustration. 

"Government Notification. 

Pearl fishery of 1904. 

Notice is hereby given that a pearl fishery 
will take place at Marichchikaddi, in the Island 
of Ceylon, on or about March 14, 1904. 

1. The bank to be fished is the southwest 
Cheval Paar which is estimated to contain 
13,000,000 oysters. 

2. It is notified that the first day's fishing 
will take place on the first favorable day after 
March 13. 

3. Marichchikaddi is on the main land, eighl 
miles by sea south of Sillavaturai and supplies 

j j 1 



THE PEARL 

of good water and provisions can be obtained 
there. 

4. The fishery will be conducted on account 
of the Government, and the oysters put up for 
sale in such lots as may be deemed expedient. 

5. The arrangements of the fishery will be 
the same as have been usual on similar occa- 
sions. Persons attending the fishery camp from 
India will be permitted to travel to Ceylon by 
either of the following routes: (1) Tuticorin 
to Colombo or (2) Paumben to Marichchikaddi 
and by no other. Arrangements will be made 
as at the last fishery, for travellers to proceed 
from Paumben direct to the camp. The only 
restriction imposed on travellers by the Paum- 
ben route will be inspection by the medical 
officers at Paumben. 

6. All payments to be made in ready money 
in Ceylon currency. 

7. Drafts on the banks in Colombo or bills 
on the agents of this Government in India, at 
ten days sight, will be taken on letters of credit 
produced to warrant the drawing of such drafts 
or bills. 

8. For the convenience of purchasers, the 

222 



PEARL FISHERIES 

treasurer at Colombo and the different Govern- 
ment agents of provinces will be authorized 
to receive cash deposits from parties intending 
to become purchasers, and receipts of these 
officers will be taken in payment of any sums 
due on account of the fishery. 

9. No deposit will be received for a less sum 
than Rs. 250. 

By His Excellency's command. 

Everard Im Thurm, Colonial Secretary. 
Colonial Secretary's Office, Colombo, Feb. 27, 
1904." 

The sanitary precautions are of the utmost 
importance, for a plague stricken Hindu, if he 
were dying, would still endeavor to go where he 
might "get rich quickly." 

As the time draws near, thousands of specu- 
lators and sightseers from farther and nearer 
India arrive. Berbers, Arabs, Persians, and 
Burmese, mingle with the Singhalese and Tamil 
divers. A town of huts to accommodate per- 
haps 50,000 springs into existence. Steamer 
service to Colombo is started, post and telegraph 
service is established and sanitary measures put 
in force. Conjurors employed by the divers go 

223 



THE PEARL 

through incantations to preserve them from the 
sharks which abound in these waters. 

This shark-charming power is believed to be 
hereditary and not dependent on the religion 
of the conjuror and he can, if ill or absent, con- 
vey the power to a substitute so that it will be 
respected by the sharks. To make matters 
doubly sure the divers arm themselves with a 
short, pointed piece of ironwood. This how- 
ever is not their main reliance for a "wise 
woman" was able to avert a panic which was 
well under way, after one of the divers was 
bitten at the Tuticorin fishing of 1890. Except- 
ing the loss of a limb occasionally not much 
damage is done by the sharks, a fact which 
sustains the implicit faith of the natives in their 
shark-charmers . 

When the day set by the Government officials 
arrives, the fleet puts to sea after numerous 
ceremonies. The boats, which range from ten 
to fifteen tons, are grouped in fleets of sixty 
to seventy. Beside the divers they are manned 
by ten or more sailors, a steersman, and if 
possible by a shark-charmer (pillal karras). 
The boats leave at midnight in order to be 
224 



PEARL FISHERIES 

ready on the banks at sunrise. At the firing of 
a signal gun diving commences. A stone of 
granite, shaped like a pyramid and weighing 
about thirty to forty pounds, is attached 
through a hole at the smaller end to the cord 
by which the diver is lowered. Some divers 
prefer a half-moon stone fastened to the waist. 
Above the stone when attached to the line is a 
loop for the diver's foot. The divers work in 
pairs, one going down and the other remaining 
in the boat to attend to the line, and in some 
cases exchanging positions as the diver becomes 
exhausted. Naked divers stay below fifty to 
eighty seconds on an average, though some can 
remain under water longer. Each man makes 
forty to fifty descents a day and brings up fifteen 
to thirty oysters each time. As a rule the 
maximum depth in these waters is about forty- 
two feet though fishing at twelve and thirteen 
fathoms is reported. The divers work from 
sunrise to noon, which allowing for shifts gives 
each man four hours diving for a day's work. 
A gun is fired as a signal for the day's fishing to 
cease and the fleet starts at once for shore. 
Upon arriving there the oysters are immediately 
15 225 



THE PEARL 

landed by coolies who carry them in baskets, [ 
on their backs, to the "Kottu," or government 
stockade. There they are counted and each 
boat-load is divided into three equal parts; 
Two of these are chosen by officials for the 
government and the remaining heap is the 
boats' share. Formerly the catch was divided 
into four parts of which the government took 
three. Of the boats' share the divers get in 
some cases two thirds. As soon as the division 
is made, those belonging to the boat are quickly 
traded or sold to the numerous small speculators 
which abound in the camp. Six evenings in 
the week the government auctions off the 
catch in lots of one thousand. 

While each day's catch is being counted the 
average run is carefully watched by experts 
who judge by the size, weight and general 
appearance of the oysters as to the probable 
yield of pearls. Opinions so formed are usually 
quite correct and bidding at the auctions are 
based on them to a great extent . The principal 
buyers are from Madras, Bombay, and other 
cities on the Coromandel and Malabar coasts 
of India, though local speculators buy many. 
226 



PEARL FISHERIES 

The catch runs about one million per day. 
In 1903 forty-four million oysters were taken, 
but they realized much less than the catch of 
1904, when the number was not quite twenty- 
six and three-quarter millions, though it netted 
the government $350,000; 1905, however, will 
be the record year as it is claimed the profits 
will reach the large sum of $830,000. These 
figures represent the government's share only. 

The price realized at these sales varies not 
only with the season but from day to day. Ten 
to fourteen dollars per thousand is a fair average, 
though there are days when as much as twenty- 
four dollars is realized. Prices have ranged 
from S7.50 to $40.00 per thousand in one season. 
The net proceeds go to the revenue of Ceylon. 

This has been the system under which the 
Ceylon fisheries were managed until lately. 
For some reason unknown to the public, the 
government, after a season of unequalled profit 
in 1905, leased the fisheries to a company, the 
Pearl Fishers of Ceylon (Limited), for a period 
of twenty years from January 1, 1906. The 
company is to pay the government $103,333 
per annum and is to expend annually upon the 

227 



THE PEARL 

improvement of the fishery not less than 
$16,666, or more than $50,000, at the discretion i : 
of the government. The expenses of super- 
vision and protection by the government must 
also be borne by the company. 

As a result of the first fishery (1906), the I 
company after setting aside $49,628 for depre- 
ciations and reserve and carrying forward 
$77,382, show a profit of $256,960 which affords 
dividends of 36 cents on ordinary shares and 
18 cents on deferred shares, a remarkably good 
beginning. The government revenue from the 
fishery of 1905 was $801,882 after the expenses, 
$73,510 were deducted; over $111,000 more 
than the profit of 1904 which was the most suc- 
cessful up to that time. 

The inspector of pearl-banks anticipated a 
good fishery in 1906 but was of the opinion that 
after a small fishery in 1907 and probably 1908 
the banks would fail for some years as they have 
done in the past. 

After the pearls are taken from the dead 

oysters they are first sorted for size. This is 

done by passing them through a series of ten 

small brass sieves known as baskets, containing 

228 



PEARL FISHERIES 

from twenty to one thousand holes. The 
sieves have twenty, thirty, fifty, eighty, one 
hundred, two hundred, four hundred, six 
hundred, eight hundred and one thousand 
holes respectively. The pearls are then sorted 
for color and quality, weighed and valued. As 
with all things, really fine pieces are rare, the 
great mass being ordinary or poor. Herein lies 
the attraction and excitement of the business 
for some w T ill find great gems. One may imagine 
the keen interest of the swarthy buyer who has 
parted with his hoards, hoping to find a "pearl 
of great price" when he washes the lustrous 
spheres from the putrid mass of decaying fish : 
the eager search; the joy when his eye lights 
upon a big, white, shining sphere rising up 
among the heap of little ones; the growing 
exultation as he picks it out and with feverish 
interest rolls it about between his fingers to find 
it without flaw or blemish, or the keen disap- 
pointment should his inspection show, as it 
most frequently does, that it is full of imper- 
fections. 

Hovering about are the buyers for the gn at 
Hindu merchants, agents of far-off princes and 

229 



1 



THE PEARL 

Europeans, all watching sharply for great finds 
and ready to enter into the combat of wits which 
marks an oriental trading. 

If one remembers that there are probably 
twenty-five thousand traders congregated on 
the hot sands of this far-off shore, the fair dame, 
whose neck is clasped by a string of these 
precious globules, may conjure from their 
lustrous skins, scenes as wild and weird as any 
fairy tale that set her youth to dreaming. 

The pearls are sorted into a number of 
grades. Those perfect in sphericity and luster 
are called ' ' ani. ' ' Anitari meaning ' ' followers ' ' 
or "companions," are of the same general 
character, but poorer in those important 
qualities. Masanku are somewhat irregular in 
shape and faulty, especially in luster and color. 
The poorest of this class, lacking the essential 
qualities, are separated into another grade and 
called "kallipu." Next come "kural," double 
or twinned, and "pisal," are misshapen or 
clustered . Folded or bent pearls are ' ' madanku , ' ' 
and what we would call "rejection," a mixed 
lot of all sorts and sizes too poor to include in 
any of the regular classifications, are termed 
230 



PEARL FISHERIES 

" vadivu. ' ' Seed-pearls, the very small pearls of 
which there are great quantities, are known as 
4 ' tul. " Many of these are ground to ' ' chunam ' ' 
or shell-lime, and used as an ingredient in a 
favorite masticatory. 

The assortments being made, they are 
weighed and recorded in kalanchu (kalungy) 
and manchadi (manjaday). The kalanchu is a 
brass weight equal to 67 grains troy, and the 
manchadi is a small red berry that is of very 
even weight when full sized, and is reckoned 
twenty to a kalanchu. 

In the valuation of ani, anitari and vadivu, 
the individual size, form, and color is considered, 
but the others are simply valued by weight. 

The modus operandi of these fisheries like 
all others managed by Orientals continues much 
the same from fishing to fishing. Experiments 
have been made at the Tuticorin fishery with 
helmeted divers but their catch compared 
unfavorably with that of the naked natives, 
who will sometimes under favorable circum- 
stances bring up two thousand in a day. It 
is said that the X-ray is being used to some 
extent in the examination of shells and that 

231 



THE PEARL 

those found to be without pearls are thrown 
back into the sea, but it is doubtful if the general 
use would be practical or advantageous while 
oysters remain abundant; so far, the use of it 
has been experimental only. 

Fine pearls are found in Dutch India among 
the Molucca Islands. Fishing is done by the 
natives, and as they seldom go deeper than ten 
or twelve feet the probability is that they do 
not get the finest shells or pearls, for it seems to 
be quite well established that the shells taken 
from deep water are larger and more likely to 
contain large pearls. Whether this arises from 
deep water being more favorable to growth, 
or an unmolested opportunity to grow, has not 
been determined. 

Hitherto the Netherlands Indian government 
has opposed encroachment upon the rights of 
the natives and colonists, and has patrolled 
the waters with small gunboats to prevent any 
attempt by Europeans to fish. But lately con- 
cessions have been made to British firms so that 
shell is being shipped direct to London, and 
it is now thought that these fisheries will 
soon rival the Australian. The pearls were 
232 



PEARL FISHERIES 

formerly bought from natives, principally of 
the Island of Aroe,- by Chinese and Arabs 
who took them to Macassar. From there they 
were sent first to Singapore and then to London, 
Paris, and Amsterdam. Most of the pearls 
brought to Macassar are baroques, though fine 
specimens of more regular shape arrive there 
occasionally. The mother-of-pearl from these 
shells is of good quality. 

Some pearls are found at the Bazaruto 
Islands, Portuguese East Africa, a few miles 
from the coast, midway between Inhambane 
and Beira. A concession was granted to a com- 
pany about 1892, but bad management, lack 
of funds and political difficulties, killed the 
enterprise. 

General reports indicate that it is very 
difficult for any enterprise subject to the offi- 
cials of this district to succeed. The Bazaruto 
Kaffirs still fish, but without system or intel- 
ligence. They are wasteful and damage many 
of the pearls by cooking the oyster. The 
few found are shipped by Indian traders to 
Bombay and Zanzibar. 

Pearl fishing has been attempted on the 
233 



THE PEARL 

coast of German East Africa at Zanzibar Island 
and south, between the Island of Mafia and the 
main coast. Mother-of-pearl is abundant but 
few pearls have been found and there has been 
no sustained effort. There are large coral 
banks about the islands of the coast favorable 
for the growth of mother-of-pearl and there is 
shallow water over large areas. 

Good white pearls have been taken from a 
red mussel found there. South of the Island of 
Mafia are beds of large pinna shells which yield 
black seed-pearls. There are pearl-shell fisheries 
in the Merguian Archipelago and in the govern- 
ment of Burmah and some pearls are found. 
The banks, scattered over an area of eleven 
thousand square miles, are rented from the 
government and rights to fish are sublet on 
royalty. The fishing is nearly all done by 
helmeted divers. 

Avicula and meleagrina margaritifera are 
taken off the west coast of New Caledonia. 
From the former large numbers of pearls are 
taken, and from the latter, very beautiful white 
pearls. Fine colored pearls pink, yellow, gray 
and black are often found in this district. A 
234 



PEARL FISHERIES 

variety of oyster commonly called shoulder of 
mutton, and another shell-fish called jamboneau 
(pinna) of which the pearl is very fine, are also 
found in these waters. 

A syndicate was formed in Paris to exploit 
these beds and obtained concessions covering 
one hundred and thirty miles. Owing to the 
difficulty of getting divers, the waters had not 
been exploited to any great depth up to 1898, 
the regular fishings being confined to the shal- 
lows of six to seven feet, though larger shells 
were known to be in deeper water. More 
systematic work with modern appliances and 
in deeper waters has since been done with good 
success, but late reports show an accumulation 
of shell and indications that the industry has 
not been profitable. 

In 1904 the price of shell (black-edge mother- 
of-pearl) fell to $250, U. S. gold per ton of 
2240 pounds, from $700, the former price, with 
six hundred tons stored in London, Paris, Berlin, 
New York and San Francisco, making a pros- 
pective loss of $270,000 for 1904. There was an 
attempt to limit the production by a return to 
native diving. With dress the output would be 

235 



THE PEARL 

about 500 tons for the year, with naked-diving 
200 tons less. This would operate against the 
local government, as it not only levies $38.60 
U. S. gold per metric ton as an export duty, but 
makes a large profit on the diving machines 
by way of license. The pearl fisheries of French 
Oceanica therefore face a grave situation. 

Pearls are found occasionally on the western 
coast of Nicaragua at San Juan del Norte. The 
Panama coast still yields great quantities of 
pearls as it has done for many years. When 
Spain controlled the northwestern section of 
South America with the Isthmus to the borders 
of Guatemala, under the name of Colombia, 
immense quantities of pearls were sent home by 
the colonists. 

It is recorded that 697 pounds of pearls were 
imported into Seville from Colombia in 1587. 
A large proportion of these undoubtedly came 
from the coasts of what is now Venezuela. The 
Panama or bullock shell as it is called, is not of 
the finest quality and the pearls are apt to be 
dark and inferior to the Indian pearls in luster 
as well as in color; nevertheless fine pearls are 
found there and the fisheries yield a greater 
236 



PEARL FISHERIES 

average of black pearls than any other. Beauti- 
ful iridescent pearls are also found there. 

The Pearl islands are on the east side of the 
Bay of Panama about forty miles from the city. 
The banks there may only be fished by divers 
but between Chiriqui and Veragua dredging is 
allowed. Since the United States government 
has become interested in this section there is a 
tendency here to exploit the Panama coasts 
and companies have been formed in the States 
for that purpose. The pearl fisheries formerly 
carried on along the coast of Ecuador about two 
hundred miles north of Guayaquil, are no longer 
operated. 

On the Atlantic coast of South America the 
most fruitful pearl-banks lie along the coast of 
Venezuela and west to Rio Hacha on the 
Colombian coast. This was the first part of the 
American mainland sighted by Columbus and 
the quantities of pearls owned by the natives 
did much to draw the tide of adventurers which 
set this way in the sixteenth century. 

The oysters are taken from reefs and bars 
about one mile from shore and about the 
islands. The principal beds arc at El Tirano, 

237 



THE PEARL 

northeast, and Macanao, northwest of the 
island of Margarita. There are fisheries also at 
the neighboring Islands of Coche and Cubagua. 
About four hundred sail-boats of from three to 
fifteen tons, employing two thousand men, are 
constantly at work in these fisheries. 

A French company purchased a concession 
about the year 1900 from a Venezuelan to. fish 
in this neighborhood. It was to pay the 
Venezuelan government 10 per cent, of the prof- 
its as royalty and use divers and diving appa- 
ratus so as to select the oysters and avoid waste 
of the immature. Fishing by natives is done 
mostly by dredging with metal scoops. It is es- 
timated that upwards of $600,000 worth of pearls 
are found about the island of Margarita per 
annum, most of them going to the Paris market. 

Exclusive rights have been granted a Vene- 
zuelan citizen by the local government lately 
to exploit the Gulf of Cariaco for pearls and 
other sea products. The contract is for twenty- 
five years. Certain advantages are guaranteed 
by the government which is to receive fifteen 
per cent, of the net profits of the enterprise. 

About forty or fifty years ago several English 
238 



PEARL FISHERIES 

companies conducted profitable fisheries in the 
: lower Gulf of Maracaibo and on the coasts of 
the Goajira territory and Paraguana. They 
; employed Indians as divers. Revolutionary 
i troubles during the last twenty-five years so 
1 demoralized the Indians, that the industry was 
; finally broken up. Reports from authoritative 
sources indicate, that not only could paying 
fisheries be established here, but that the 
interior is rich in minerals and precious stones. 
Until lately there have been few restrictions 
upon fishing along the Venezuelan coast beyond 
a tax of fifty dollars imposed by local authori- 
ties upon the buyers and the payment of fifteen 
bolivars ($2.90) by each boat for a fishing permit 
at Margarita. 

The oysters of this coast mature rapidly and 
like those of Ceylon live but six or seven years. 
They are small and the shells are so thin that 
they can be crushed between the fingers. They 
are of the Lingah type and are named by some 
avicula squamulosa. The nacreous lining is 
also very thin, but lustrous and beautifully 
iridescent. The pearls run small and very many 
of them are quite yellow. 

239 



THE PEARL 

Many fine white pearls are found however, 
though they incline frequently to a waxy 
luster and are often marred by chalky spots. 
Great quantities of baroques, notably beautiful 
for color and orient, are found. Round pearls 
with a china-like skin in many colors are also 
quite common. The average size and quality 
is not equal to those of the Indian waters, 
though it is much better than is generally 
credited, as the traders in this country for some 
inexplicable reason have an idea that Ven- 
ezuelan pearls are necessarily poorer than 
others. 

This notion has probably been fostered among 
American buyers by the Parisian dealers who 
at present well nigh control the output of these 
fisheries and naturally fear the diversion to a 
neighboring market which now pays a heavy 
toll to Paris on pearls taken from this continent. 
It is true an unusually large percentage of 
cracked pearls is found among Venezuelans, 
and they lose perceptibly in weight after being 
brought from the fisheries the loss averaging 
fully one-eighth of one per cent., nevertheless 
many pearls of the finest quality are taken from 
240 



PEARL FISHERIES 

these fisheries. All pearls are subject to slight 
variations in weight. 

It was from the fisheries of Colombia that 
Philip II. of Spain received the large pearl of 
250 carats, about the size and shape of a 
pigeon's egg, so often mentioned in the chroni- 
cles of precious stones. 

The management of the pearl fisheries of the 
Colombia of to-day is in the hands of the central 
bank of Colombia which is empowered to 
transact business pertaining to property belong- 
ing to the government. This institution holds a 
public auction and awards the lease of the rights 
to fish for pearls, coral, etc., on the Colombian 
coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, to 
the most desirable bidder. The lessee must be 
governed by the rules and regulations laid 
down by the bank. The lease is for five years 
and went into effect August 1st, 1906. 

New pearl oyster-beds were discovered in 
1903 in the Gulf of Campeche near Coatza- 
coalcos and application was made by a Mexican 
to the Mexican government for a concession to 
work them. There are extensive beds, which 
are constantly fished, along the eastern coast of 
16 ^41 



THE PEARL 

Lower California from its junction with the 
United States to Cape San Lucas. La Paz is 
the principal centre of the fisheries. An English 
syndicate has a concession from the Mexican 
government which was lately renewed, for 
fishing about La Paz. Pearls worth $350,000, 
among them many fine black pearls, and five 
thousand tons of shells valued at $1,250,000, 
were taken in 1904. This syndicate employs 
all the modern appliances. 

Beds are known and worked from La Paz 
to and about the island of Loreto on the east 
coast, and at the island of Tiburon over on 
the East side of the gulf, and from Mazatlan 
all along the coast of Mexico proper to the 
boundary line of Guatemala. These beds were 
discovered by Cortez in 1536 and were worked 
spasmodically for two centuries; then for a 
period they were fished so constantly and 
thoroughly that the market was over-loaded 
with pearls and the supply of oysters seriously 
diminished. Of late years fishing has been again 
carried on systematically and with sufficient 
judgment to prevent the immediate destruction 
of the beds as before. 

242 



PEARL FISHERIES 

A pearl oyster-bed ten miles long has lately 
been located at the Punta de Santa Cristoval. 
The Mexican season for fishing varies in locali- 
ties from May to November, or June to Decem- 
ber. The day's work of the diver commences at 
near the ebb tide and ends shortly after the 
beginning of the flood tide, about three hours 
in all. Much fishing is done by independent 
naked native divers, in a manner similar to 
that of the Hindus and Arabs, but some of the 
large concessionaires supply their divers with 
helmets and other modern appliances. 

Schooners of various sizes having several 
boats, carry the fishing parties to the banks 
and the men live on them through the entire 
season. The daily catches are delivered to an 
armed boat which carries the oysters ashore, 
where they are at once searched for pearls. 
These when found are immediately sorted and 
valued, a percentage going to the diver in 
addition to his wages, if he is a regular employee 
of the Company. 

The oysters arc found adhering to rocks by 
the byssus, generally in bmulus, hinge-side 
down, curved side up and the shells slightly 

243 



THE PEARL 

parted. The diver cuts them loose with a knife 
and deposits them in his basket or net. One 
hundred to a hundred and fifty is a good day's 
work for a naked diver, but with the appliances 
now being introduced, a diver in dress can raise 
fully double that number. It should be remem- 
bered that there are elements of uncertainty and 
irregularity in the catch of the meleagrina. As 
compared with the enormous and crowded beds 
of the small varieties as they exist in the Gulf 
of Manaar and at the island of Margarita, 
Venezuela, where they can be literally scooped 
up, the scattered bunches of the meleagrina do 
not afford easy data for reckoning averages. 

On the coasts of China, Japan, Korea, some 
of the South Sea Islands, the English Channel 
islands, the Canary islands, about St. Malo on 
the coast of France, at Queen Charlotte's island 
and along the coast of California from north 
of San Francisco to the border of Lower 
California, at the Cape of Good Hope, India, 
Australia and New Zealand, a shell-fish is taken 
which has considerable commercial value and 
yields pearls to a limited extent. 

It is called in this country abalone. In the 
244 



PEARL FISHERIES 

Channel islands it is known as the ormer. It 
is the Haliotis or Earshell. The Greeks called it 
venus earshell and used it as a food, considering 
it most nutritious. Old English writers praised 
it as a delicious morsel under the name of 
ormond saying that it was bigger and infinitely 
better than the oyster. This shell-fish attaches 
itself to the rocks by a flat, disk-shaped foot 
and must be taken when the tide is low. The 
fisherman can then insert a knife by stealth 
under the foot and taking the fish unawares, 
destroy the suction. Otherwise the hold of the 
fish could not be broken without destroying 
the shell. New Zealanders call the fish itself 
the mutton fish. 

The Japanese, Chinese and Indians of the 
Pacific coast have long used it as an article of 
food. The shells are valuable on account of the 
very beautiful nacreous lining which is excep- 
tionally good material for buttons and various 
ornamental purposes. The lining has an 
exquisite play of colors in the richest tones of 
peacock greens and reds. There are about 
seventy species of the Haliotis and the sin lis 
vary greatly in size. The British ormcr (II. 

245 



THE PEARL 

tuberculata) is of small size, about six inches 
long and is silvery. The shells are sometimes 
called in trade aurora shells. After being well 
beaten to make them tender the animals are 
used for food. 

The ormer or auris marina was esteemed by 
the ancients as a very sweet and luscious dish. 
The people of the Channel islands ornament 
their houses with the shells and farmers use 
them to frighten the birds from their corn-fields. 
They string several together and suspend them 
from the end of a slender pole stuck in the 
ground. The wind swaying them, makes a 
constant clatter. The Haliotis iris of New 
Zealand is green and brilliantly iridescent. A 
Cape of Good Hope species (H. Mida), under the 
epidermis is tinged with color, principally 
orange. 

Some of the more beautiful species were 
formerly very abundant on the coasts of China 
and Japan, but the constant use of the animal 
for many years as a food stuff has made them 
less common there and the Chinese and Japanese 
now obtain a large part of their supply from 
California, where the haliotis or abalone, as it 
246 



PEARL FISHERIES 

is called is taken in great quantities. The two 
most beautiful species found on this coast are, 
the Haliotis splendens, a magnificent shell of 
rainbow coloring in which peacock green pre- 
dominates, and H. rufescens, the lining of which 
is red. When found, the latter is usually 
thickly incrusted and coated with vegetation. 
The green and red range from seven to ten 
inches, the latter being generally the larger. 

Another variety, H. cracherodii, very dark 
green or black without, and with no apparent 
beauty, has a small opalescent bit inside the 
shell which is cut out and made into articles of 
jewelry. This is common in crevices of rocks. 
A variety called bluebacks has a bright clayey 
blue exterior. The Indians of the Pacific coast 
have used these shells as material for jewelry 
and decoration for centuries, but not until the 
button-makers of Europe and New York began 
to utilize them did they become an item of 
importance among the exports of the Pacific 
coast. 

Few pearls are found in the abalonc but they 
yield a considerable number of large rounded 
baroques and excrescences, rich and beautiful 

247 



THE PEARL 

in color and of fair luster, also odd-shaped 
pieces like blisters matched and joined at the 
edges. The greens have a bronze appearance 
and the reds and pinks are often iridescent. 
Quite a number of good "peelers" are found 
among them. These are pearly formations 
which can be improved by taking off one or 
more of the outer skins. 

Pearl-fishing, principally by Greeks, has been 
carried on about the west and south coast of 
Haiti, but lately the government has granted a 
concession to four of its citizens covering nine 
years with the privilege of renewal at the end 
of that period. This will prohibit all others 
from fishing unless they rent the privilege from 
the concessionaires. 

To the south of the Philippines, pearl-fish- 
eries were worked by the natives before the 
arrival of the Spaniards, and the industry is 
still carried on, chiefly by antiquated methods. 
The coasts of the Sulu islands, at Jolo and else- 
where and about the island of Mindanao, have 
yielded many fine pearls and continue to do so. 
The shells from these waters furnish very fine 
mother-of-pearl. 

248 



PEARL FISHERIES 

All things considered, the largest and best 
equipped fisheries in the world to-day are those 
on the coast of Australia. Not as many pearls 
are found as at Ceylon. The main object of 
fishing is the shell, which is large, heavy, and 
furnishes the best quality of mother-of-pearl of 
the white variety. From Charlotte's Bay on 
the north-eastern coast, all along the northern 
coast and around to Exmouth Gulf on the 
western coast, pearl-oysters are abundant. 
Farther south at Sharks Bay, the oysters are 
smaller and the pearls, though of good shape 
and luster, run yellow. Shells from the coast of 
Queensland are sold as Sydney shell ; those from 
the northern territory of South Australia, as 
Port Darwin shell, and from there to Exmouth 
Gulf on the western coast, they are marketed 
as West Australian shell. 

The fishing is carried on by organized com- 
panies having capital, and every modern 
appliance of practical value is utilized. The 
divers fish with the dress. The usual method 
of fishing is for a schooner of eighty to one 
hundred tons to put out with a number of 
luggers of from eight to ten tons. Each lugger 

249 



THE PEARL 

is manned by a captain, a cook, one man at the 
life-line, two men at the air-pumps and one 
diver. Each lugger will average half a ton of 
shells per month ranging from 1600 to 2000 
to the ton. The pearls like the shells run white. 

The Australians are not only pushing this 
industry along their own coast, but are extend- 
ing operations along the islands north toward 
the equator, wherever it is possible. And 
wherever they go they carry with them the best 
modern appliances and methods. Lately how- 
ever operations have been considerably cur- 
tailed in the Torres straits owing to the enforce- 
ment of laws for the protection of divers. 

Lack of men for diving caused some of the 
operators to use questionable means to obtain a 
supply. Boats were sent through the South Sea 
among the islands and aborigines, Chinese, 
and even European sailors, were kidnapped and 
held in practical slavery. Many lives have been 
lost in these fisheries and the evils connected 
with the industry became so notorious that the 
government took action. It is probable that 
the business will be reorganized and either 
conducted by the state or under government 
250 



PEARL FISHERIES 

supervision. Natives are now being trained 
to use the dress. 

Few pearls are found and it not infrequently 
( happens that as many as fifteen to twenty tons 
i of shells are raised without finding a single 
! pearl of value. At this time shells from these 
fisheries bring from $500 to $750 per ton in the 
New York market. Helmets have been used 
to some extent throughout the Pacific for a 
number of years, but many were crude affairs, 
carelessly managed and the loss of life was as 
great as by naked-diving. The training of the 
natives to the use of the more modern appli- 
ances will however engender confidence and the 
probability is that dress-diving will become 
general in the south seas wherever the industry 
is organized. 

As a rule the largest oysters and pearls, where 
there is a calcareous foundation for the bed, are 
taken from the deeper waters, and it is probable 
that as modern appliances arc more generally 
used by the larger organizations now taking hold 
of the industry, the fisheries will Ik- extended 
with good results in many localities to waters 
beyond the shallows now fished. More syste- 
ms 1 



THE PEARL 

matic methods will prevent waste and the 
destruction of the beds. 

The English Colonial governments of India 
are doing much in this direction. By keeping 
experts upon the ground, they have learned 
how to fish without destroying the beds, and 
to fish when it is possible for the oysters to 
contain pearls. Strict supervision and protec- 
tion of the beds result in more frequent fishings 
and greater returns to both the government 
and the fishermen. 

This example is being followed, and pearl 
fisheries are gradually coming either under 
governmental supervision or into the hands of 
concessionaires, whose large investment makes 
the preservation of the beds a business neces- 
sity, whether they fish mainly for pearls or 
shells. 

The best pearls and the largest number are 
found usually in mature shells which are dis- 
torted ; it has been stated as a possibility, that 
in the future some of the new rays will be used 
in fisheries where the pearl is the main object 
of the fisher, to ascertain if the oyster contains 
any before destroying it. M. Dubois of Lyons 
252 






PEARL FISHERIES 

has experimented with Roentgen rays for that 
purpose. 

As the fish is enormously prolific it is more 
probable however that effort will be directed 
instead toward the preservation of the mollusk 
from the enemies and accidents which are 
occasionally greater than its productiveness. 

One of the greatest dangers in Indian waters 
to a bed of young oysters is a little mollusk 
known locally in Ceylon as suran (Modiola). 
These cluster in masses on the sea bottom 
and spreading over the surface of the coral, 
crowd out the delicate young of oysters 
recently deposited. 

The Japanese fisheries suffer from the occa- 
sional infection of the waters by a weed, 
dinonagellata gonyaulax. It accumulates in 
immense quantities, causing a wide discolora- 
tion of the sea water and is very destructive to 
an oyster-bed. It is called the red current or 
red tide. So far no preventive or remedy has 
been found. 

Hitherto the most general and fatal danger to 
oyster-beds has been the ungoverned extrava- 
gance of irresponsible fishers who seek to harvest 

253 



THE PEARL 

in the present regardless of the future, but these 
are gradually being made amenable to restric- 
tive laws as authorities awake to the value of 
the industry. A greater danger which threatens 
the unio of American streams, is the pollution 
of the water by the discharge of the refuse of | 
factories and the sewage of cities into them. A 
mussel bed will recover in time when denuded 
by fishers, but sewage and poison kills it out 
entirely. 

Although fresh-water pearl-bearing mussels 
are found in the streams of many countries, 
only in the United States are they taken in 
sufficient quantities to make the fishings 
important as an industry. They are to be found 
throughout the Mississippi drainage area and 
in part of that of the St. Lawrence. Few exist 
on the Pacific coast and those of the Atlantic 
coast are generally inferior as pearl mussels. 
There are many varieties of the unio which 
yield pearls. Latin names are given by different 
writers to distinguish them, but as scientists 
differ in their classifications, the names are not 
always uniform and are not sufficiently well 
established to be useful, descriptively, to the 
254 



PEARL FISHERIES 

general reader.. In treating of the various kinds 
of pearl-bearing tmios of the United States 
therefore in these pages, the common names by 
which they are known will as a rule be used with 
the scientific names appended, as revised by 
the department of mollusks of the United States 
I National Museum. 

From the times of Roman colonization until 
now, pearls have been taken from the mussels 
of British streams. There are three varieties 
of pearl-bearing mussels in Great Britain: 
Painter's mussel (U. pictorum), the Swollen 
River mussel (U. tumidus) and the Pearl 
mussel (U. margaritifera) . 

The first two occur only in the streams and 
ponds of England and Wales and the pearls 
found in them are of inferior quality. The 
latter inhabits the streams of Scotland and the 
northern counties of England and to some extent 
are found in Ireland and Wales also. The shell 
is oblong, rather flat and heavy and about five 
and one-half inches long. The exterior surface 
is rough, and blackish-brown; the pearly 
interior has a tint of flesh color mottled by 
stains of dull green. It was from this variety 

255 



THE PEARL 

the Perthshire Tay pearls were taken, which 
gained so much notoriety in the middle of the 
eighteenth century when some fifty thousand 
dollars worth were sent to London from this 
stream in three years. 

Scotch pearl-fishing was revived in i860 and 
some fine ones were sold to Queen Victoria, 
the Empress of the French, the Duchess of 
Hamilton and others. Pearl-mussels have been 
found in Lochs Rannoch, Tay, Lubnaig and 
Earn, also in the Don, the Leith and other 
streams. Some are found in the Welsh streams, 
and the river Bann in Ireland was noted for 
the fine pearls found in it. Many years ago 
there was a pearl fishery at Omagh in the north 
of Ireland. An old writer claims that Caesar 
obtained pearls of such bigness in Britain that 
he tried the weight of them by his hand. 

The fishers wade for them in shallow pools, 
or thrust sticks between the open valves, or 
drag branches over them, for as soon as any- 
thing enters between the two shells they close 
upon it at once. The mussels are found gen- 
erally set up in the sand of the river-bed with 
the open side, if the current is very strong, 
256 



PEARL FISHERIES 

turned away from it. The custom of the 
peasantry is to fish for them in the autumn after 
harvest. 

Pearl-mussels are found also in Saxony, 
Bavaria, Bohemia, Mesopotamia, Lapland, 
Canada, Labrador, the Hawaiian Island Oahu, 
Japan (especially the anodonta japonica), 
China, the United States and Italy, in the 
Gwaai and Shangani rivers of Southern 
Rhodesia, South Africa. Nowhere are they 
found however in such quantities or in so many 
varieties as in the United States. The number 
taken from the streams here of late years has 
been so great that the shells have largely dis- 
placed the marine Egyptian and have affected 
the demand for the better qualities of South 
Sea mother-of-pearl. The pearls found in them 
also have been of such quality and quantity 
that they now have an important place among 
the jewels of the world. 

Old records and the contents of Indian 
mounds show that the unio was taken from the 
rivers by the aborigines for the pearls they 
sometimes contained ; but no wide interest in 
this possible wealth of the rivers appears to 
17 257 



THE PEARL 

have developed among their white successors 
until the finding in 1857 of a large pearl weigh- 
ing ninety-three grains at Notch Brook near 
Paterson, N. J. It was afterwards sold to the 
Empress Eugenie of France for $2500. This 
became noised abroad and immediately multi- 
tudes began to search for pearls. 

Mussels were gathered and destroyed by the 
million, few pearls being found. The excite- 
ment subsided as the searchers learned how 
few got adequate reward for their time and 
labor. They soon began to realize that the 
finding of a pearl of value is usually preceded 
by the opening of hundreds or thousands of 
shells containing none, and that in the aggre- 
gate, the shells thrown away were worth more 
than the few pearls found. 

Another pearl hunt developed along the 
Little Miami River in Ohio from the finding of 
several fine pearls near Waynes ville in 1876. 
This reached its height in 1878. In 1880, pearls 
began to come into the New York market from 
the West and South. Immense beds have been 
fished in the White, Wabash and Ohio Rivers 
in Indiana. In the summer of 1889 a number 
258 



PEARL FISHERIES 

of fine pearls were found in the southwestern 
corner of Wisconsin, in Crawford, Grant, 
Lafayette and Green counties. Not only were 
they notable for extraordinary luster, but many 
were of beautiful color. The sale of some at 
prices which seemed fabulous to the people of 
that section, when it became generally known, 
caused such a scramble for them by the natives 
that the streams were rapidly denuded of 
mussels, and that section has become of much 
less importance than others since developed. 
Prairie du Chien is the center of the Wisconsin 
market, from which point the shells are distrib- 
uted to the button factories. 

The following year (1890) pearl-bearing 
mussels were found in several of the central 
counties of Illinois — McLean, Tazewell and 
Woodford, in the Mackinaw river and tribut- 
aries, but no discovery equalling that of Wis- 
consin occurred until 1897 when the Arkansas 
beds were discovered. A peculiarity of this 
district is that whereas the unio is usually 
most abundant in swift clear water having a 
sandy or gravelly bottom, many are found 

here in the mud. 

a 9 



THE PEARL 

They have been taken over a wide territory 
from the rivers and streams of the eastern half 
of the state, including the Black, White, Cache, 
St. Francis, Ouachita, Saline and Dorcheat 
rivers, and in the valley of the Arkansas. Fol- 
lowing this were finds in Indian Territory, 
Missouri, Georgia and Tennessee, the latter being 
the most prolific. The finest pearls in Tennessee 
are found in the fluter, or lake shell, which is 
the same as the mussel known on the Wabash 
as the washboard. A yellow shell is found in 
the Clinch River similar to the mucket of 
Arkansas, from which pearls are taken. 

Unlike the pearl oyster, the unio seems to be 
more prolific of pearls in the shallows and 
riffles near the edges of the rivers. Most of the 
fine pearls are found between the pallial line 
and the lip in the free portion of the mantle. 
Those found within the pallial line, where the 
mantle is attached to the shell, are seldom as 
lustrous or perfect. 

Pearls are found in many States besides those 

mentioned, but the fishing is done quietly and 

in some cases the sources of supply are known 

to only a few who in the marketing of their 

260 



PEARL FISHERIES 

pearls carefully avoid giving any information. 
This is particularly true of some of the eastern 
states. Streams in the Northwestern section 
of New York State are regularly fished, but 
without excitement. The large fisheries of the 
Mississippi and West are fished principally for 
the mother-of-pearl in the shells. As with some 
of the marine fisheries, the pearl is regarded 
as an extra. 

The mussels are taken in various ways. In 
Canada, boats drag brush and the branches of 
trees over the river bottoms, gathering the 
mussels into the boat as the twigs become 
clogged. In the large beds often found in our 
Western Rivers, fishing is done wherever 
possible by dredging. Metal scoops, hand, 
shoulder and scissor-rakes are used and the 
mollusks, taken in immense quantities are 
cooked to open them, then cleaned of the meat 
which is afterwards examined for pearls. This 
method is used where the mussels lie in groat 
masses or on sandy bottoms. Where there 
are boulders or large stones, a great number 
of hooks are dragged over the beds. 

The mussels, partially buried, lie lip-end up 
261 



THE PEARL 

and the shell slightly parted. Should anything 
come within this gaping aperture, the mussel 
at once closes upon it, nipping on with such 
tenacity that the hold is not loosed until the 
fisher draws it into the boat and forcibly 
releases the hook. It is said the mollusk's shell 
would remain thus tightly closed for ten or 
twelve hours. After dragging the hooks over 
the bed, the mussels are taken off and the pro- 
cess repeated. 

Various rough devices are used, the principle 
in all being the same. One, illustrative, con- 
sists of a piece of lead pipe or an iron bar 
several feet long, from which depend a number 
of double or triple hooks several inches apart. 
This is dropped overboard, the rope on which it 
is hung is fastened to the stern of the boat, and 
the boatman rows over the mussel bed dragging 
it after him. Men who dredge for the mollusks 
are called clammers. Pearlers are those who 
at odd times fish for the mussels with pearls as 
the main object. This class is composed of the 
backwoods natives who live about the streams 
in which the mussels are found. They are 
people who usually follow their inclinations as 
262 



PEARL FISHERIES 

nearly as they can, working only as it becomes 
requisite to obtain the few coarse necessities 
of their lives. With them also are small farmers 
who at seasons when farm work is not pressing, 
seek the excitement and possible profit of the 
hunt for pearls. 

For all such persons the occupation has a 
great fascination. The difficulties of following 
the streams through almost impenetrable sur- 
roundings, the coarse fare of bacon, meal and 
coffee; the long tramps back and forth to 
their mountain huts, or the exposure to night 
in the tangle of the woods, have no terrors for 
them; they are but common experiences. 

Few pearls of value are found, but the occa- 
sional pearl which each one does get, makes 
expectation tingle, and hope recounts again 
and again the great finds which others have 
made. There are curious happenings which 
illustrate the uncertainties of the work. 

It is told on the Clinch river in East Tennessee 
that a pearler, having patiently fished all day, 
examining the fish from time to time as Little 
heaps of them were gathered, without finding 
even a small pearl, finally decided to quit. 

263 



THE PEARL 

He was about to examine his last small heap 
when a man standing by offered him fifty cents 
for the lot. The offer was accepted. From the 
first shell opened, the buyer extracted a ball 
pearl which was afterwards sold for one thou- 
sand dollars. Two of the finest pearls taken 
one season from the same section were obtained 
from a heel-splitter, carelessly dug out of the 
sand by a man wading in the shallows of the 
river. The heel-splitter is a large thin-shelled 
variety, so named by the natives because of 
the sharp, cutting quality of the shell which 
protrudes from the sand of the river. They 
rarely contain pearls, but when they do, the 
pearls are usually fine. 

The largest proportion of fine pearls to the 
yield of any section since discoveries have been 
recorded, came from Wisconsin, and many of 
the best of these, especially of the fancy colored 
ones, were taken from Sugar river. Many of 
these were exceptionally beautiful in both color 
and luster and a good proportion of them were 
also round. 

Much is written and told of the marvellous 
pearls found in our streams worth large sums 
264 



PEARL FISHERIES 

of money. Such pearls are found undoubtedly 
but not in such quantities as one might think 
from the enthusiastic reports current in daily 
papers. Finds are written up by reporters who 
know nothing of pearls and prefer to write a 
readable story of wondrous gems and great 
values to a statement of plain unvarnished 
facts. In this the news-gatherer is assisted by 
some simple native with an eye single to a good 
price and a capacity for exaggerated ideas of 
value impossible to Maiden Lane. 

It is no uncommon trick when buyers are 
present, to find again, a pearl, which has been 
to New York and back and the ruse often suc- 
ceeds. Pearls are frequently sold at the fisheries 
for much more than they would bring in the 
east. In fact it is difficult to buy ordinary 
pearls at a reasonable price. The natives 
will sometimes sell a really fine pearl for less 
than it is worth because they do not understand 
the relative values of quality ; but they usually 
over-estimate pieces of poor quality. 

A large majority of those found in our fresh- 
water mussels fail in some essential quality. 
Many are chalky, or lustrous at one or two 

265 



THE PEARL 

points only. Others are faulty in shape, or if 
spherical, deeply pitted. Really fine pieces are 
usually small or button, and when large, are 
baroques. Some of the latter are magnificent. 
Weighing fifty to over one hundred grains, with 
skins of extraordinary luster and iridescence; 
white, or of a beautiful pink tint, these straw- 
berry or rose pearls, as they are called, fre- 
quently excel, by every standard of beauty, 
the imperfect spheres which command a greater 
price in the market because they are round. 

The most common variety of unio in American 
rivers, especially in the Mississippi river, is 
that known as the nigger-head (Quadrula 
ebena). It is also the principal species used 
for button-making. 

Similar is the warty-back (Quadrula pustu- 
losa) so called because the shell has a number 
of warts or excrescences on the outside of the 
valves. The ' ' bull-head ' ' (Pleurobena Aesopus) 
is found in abundance with the nigger-head. 
It has a blackish-brown exterior, presenting 
several radiating ridges, and a white lining. 
The two latter are inferior as material for 
buttons as the shells are brittle. The mucket 
266 



PEARL FISHERIES 

(Lampsilis ligamentinus) is a large shell, aver- 
age size 4 inches, has a dark brown exterior 
and cream-white lining. It is too thin and 
brittle to make first class material for buttons 
though fine pearls are sometimes found in 
them. 

The sand-shells furnish good material for 
buttons. They are long, sometimes six inches, 
and narrow. They are usually found on sandy 
bottoms and are said to move from the channel 
toward the shores in the morning and back in 
the evening. The most abundant is the yellow 
sand-shell (Lampsilis anodontoides) so called 
from its bright yellowish brown exterior. 
Another kind, the black sand-shell (Lampsilis 
rectus) has a black epidermis. A smaller 
variety, less abundant now than formerly, is 
the slough sand-shell (Lampsilis fallaciosus). 
These are generally found in coves or the mouths 
of rivulets. 

The deer-horn or buckhorn (Tritigonia ver- 
rucosa) is a large variety, sometimes attaining 
a length of nine inches in the Iowa river, tin nigh 
the average in the Mississippi is about five 
inches. The shell, as the name indicates, has 

267 



THE PEARL 

a rough, warty exterior. The supply is small 
and uncertain. 

Another rare species is the butterfly (Plagiola 
securis). It is a small, flat, thick shell of fine 
color, and the valves are butterfly in shape 
with a reddish-brown epidermis striped by 
darker radiating lines. It is abundant only in 
the Illinois and Ohio rivers. 

The hatchet-back, hackle-back, or heel- 
splitter (Symphynota complanata), is a large 
black mussel having a thin sharp-edged shell, 
one valve-edge projecting. It yields few pearls 
though fine specimens are occasionally found in 
this variety. 

The blue-point (Quadrula undulata) has a 
large, thick shell, with ridges on the exterior, 
curving round the umbones and extending to 
the edge. Like the black-edge meleagrina, the 
nacre at the edge is discolored. In this case by 
a bluish or purplish tint. 

Some idea of the enormous quantities of 
mussels contained in some of these beds in our 
western rivers may be gained from the reports 
of the fisheries in the first years of their dis- 
covery. Ten thousand tons of shells were 
268 



PEARL FISHERIES 

taken in three years near New Boston, 111., 
from one bed. Reckoned by the usual average 
this would mean not less than 100,000,000 
shells. In some beds, the mussels have been 
found several feet deep, the bottom layers being 
dead. 

Notwithstanding the enormous numbers, 
these beds are often completely exhausted in 
a few seasons. When the beds are first dis- 
covered, men will take as much as 1500 to 
2000 pounds of shell each, in a day's fishing. 
In one hundred pounds of shells as they are 
taken, the average number of valves or half 
shells will be, nigger-heads, about one thousand ; 
sand-shells, nine hundred; muckets, eight 
hundred, which would be an average of nine 
thousand mussels per ton. 

The meat in a ton of nigger-heads weighs 
over three hundred pounds. This is usually 
removed by the fishermen by boiling the 
mussels for ten or fifteen minutes in crude sheet 
iron tanks when the shells open and the fleshy 
part falls out or may be easily removed by 
hand. To show how little the pearls they may 
contain enter into the calculations of these 

269 



THE PEARL 

fishermen, it may be stated here that the shell- 
buyers pay about twenty-five per cent, less 
for the mussels as taken from the river than 
they do for the shells when cleaned. 

On the Californian coast when the divers 
worked independently, they preferred to sell 
the oysters unopened. They received about 
$4.50 per thousand on an average for the shells 
and double for the oysters complete. 

The fishing season for pearlers is from August 
to December. The large operations for shell, 
in the early days of the industry, were confined 
to the same period, but of late, fishing is carried 
on throughout the year, immense quantities 
being taken through the ice. The shells are 
better in cold weather, being less brittle than 
when exposed in the boats during warm weather. 
Fishing through the ice is very wasteful how- 
ever, as the undersized, which are dropped back 
from the scoops and rakes in the summer, when 
thrown out on the ice are allowed to remain 
there and die. 

The price of shells varies considerably from 
season to season. An average price for nigger- 
heads is about ten dollars per ton; sand-shells 
270 



PEARL FISHERIES 

bring about twice as much, muckets half that 
price, and the other varieties together will 
average about twenty-five per cent, more than 
nigger-heads, though among these the deer- 
horn is worth about four times as much as the 
nigger-head. 

In the first six months of 1898 nearly four 
thousand tons of mussel shells were sold by 
mussel fishermen on the Mississippi. They 
brought about thirty-nine thousand dollars, 
94 per cent, of these were nigger-heads. 

The spawning time of the unio varies with 
different species. In the central Mississippi 
basin it is normally February, March and April 
for nigger-head, and summer and early fall for 
the mucket and sand-shell. 

The unio is a slow growing animal. Under 
normal conditions it takes ten years for a nigger- 
head to reach a size of three inches; fifteen 
to eighteen years to attain a shell diameter of 
4^ inches. This corresponds very closely with 
the life of the meleagrina, though the shell of 
the latter ceases to grow in size at about eight 
or ten years. After that it continues to lay on 
thickness up to eighteen or twenty years. 

271 



THE PEARL 

Although the discoveries so far in Africa are 
unimportant, it is possible, now that the unio 
is known to exist there, that the streams of 
that wonderful land of precious things may 
add a companion gem to the vast natural 
hoards there of the diamond. In two years 
succeeding his first find, the discoverer secured 
one hundred and fifty pearls at an average of 
one pearl to eight hundred shells. 

Authorities tell us that the nucleus of a 
mussel-pearl is usually the larva of a distoma. 
Nuclei of pearls vary according to the circum- 
stances surrounding the beds of the shell-fish 
and those circumstances have much to do with 
the occurrence of the pearl. 



272 



PRICE 



PRICE 

Value, except in things which are constant 
and constantly changing hands, is a matter of 
opinion. Price is the expression of that opin- 
ion in money terms. Except in a few staple 
sizes and qualities, pearls are affected by 
so many details which determine their value 
that it is difficult to formulate rules to cor- 
respond and establish a base by which all may 
be judged. 

Shape, size, color, luster, and perfection, 
afford a multiplicity of combinations sufficient 
to puzzle the judgment of the most expert, and 
when to this is added the fact that there is no 
other one like the piece to be valued so as to 
gauge opinion, there remains but one finality, 
the agreement between buyer and seller on a 
price. 

Disregarding the fluctuations of price occa- 
sioned by temporary influences and the varia- 
tions arising from local causes, this chapter is 
intended to give information of the price of 

275 



THE PEARL 

pearls in the United States to retail dealers, 
and an idea of the relative value of different 
qualities and shapes. 

First it should be remembered that the price 
of pearls is reckoned by the square of the weight, 
with the pearl-grain, \ carat, as the unit. Given 
the price at $3.00 per grain base or multiple, 
a half grain pearl would be half of $3.00 or 
$1.50 per grain flat, or seventy-five cents for 
the pearl. At the same price a one grain pearl 
would be at $3.00 per grain multiple, $3.00 
per grain flat and $3.00 for the pearl. Upon 
the same basis a two grain pearl would be twice 
three are six, $6.00 per grain flat and twice six 
are twelve, $12.00 for the pearl. Or it may be 
stated thus: multiply the grain number by 
itself and the product by the base price, as a 
6 gr. pearl at $3.00 base, 6 x 6=36 x 3=108 
dollars, the price of the pearl. This rule ap- 
plies to all but rejections or those too 
poor for classification, and extraordinary pieces 
which by their extreme rarity pass beyond 
the governance of rules. The sign used in. 
quoting a multiple price is a square. This 
placed after a price quoted means that it is 
276 



PRICE 

the multiple price per grain, not the flat grain 
price. 

The price of pearls has increased even more 
than that of diamonds in the last fifteen years. ^ -*■*-. \ 
In common with many other things it has risen 
with the rapid increase of wealth and the 
tremendous additions to the world's stock of 
the standard or measure of values, — gold. Be- 
yond this, the demand for pearls, owing to the 
adoption of them as a fashion in the United 
States where a large proportion of the world's 
wealth is being created, has been stimulated to 
such a degree that the price of them has ad- 
vanced in a greater ratio to the depreciation of 
gold and other forms of wealth than most 
commodities. 

Twenty years ago good round Indian pearls 
up to five grains could be bought for $1.50 
base; to-day such pearls would cost $4.50 base 
and whereas in those days pieces of extraordi- 
nary luster were allowed to remain in the parcels 
and were sold at the same rate with the others, 
they are now culled from the lots and held for 
extraordinary prices. Size also now counts 
beyond the multiple of the square. The quality 

277 



THE PEARL 

held at $4.50 base up to five grains costs $6.00 
above that size, and at ten grains will bring 
$8.00 and over. 

The yield of fine white pearls in sizes over ten 
grains is not large and as there has been and is 
a steady demand for large pearls for the centres 
of necklaces, sizes from ten to fifteen grains 
bring from eight to eleven dollars multiple 
when matched. Egg and pear-shaped pearls 
of the same grade, from five grains down, are 
worth twenty-five to thirty per cent, less than 
round pearls; between five and ten grains ten 
to fifteen per cent, less, and as they near 
fifteen grains and over the pear-shape become 
of equal value with the round. 

Imperfections which can be hidden by the 
setting decrease the price twenty to thirty 
per cent., and there is about the same difference 
between button and round pearls, according 
to the size of the plane. The difference is still 
greater in the larger sizes. A yellow color 
reduces the value in the market from fifteen to 
fifty per cent, according to the depth and 
quality of the tint. The so-called blue pearls, 
which are of a dark leaden white, are worth 
278 



PRICE 

about half as much as ordinary white, and 
about one-third the price of fine white Indians. 
These blue pearls must not be confounded with 
the deep gray, slate, or black pearls, included 
in the general term black pearls, as the latter 
frequently command fancy prices. 

Salt-water pearls taken from the smaller 
varieties of the avicula of some seas, though 
of the same grade in the qualities of color, 
luster and shape, are nevertheless worth less 
than Indian pearls, because they lack a certain 
quality of texture which the latter, together 
with those of some other waters, possess to an 
eminent degree. 

American fresh-water pearls have been and 
are lower in price than Orientals. They have 
however commanded much better prices of 
late than formerly and are increasing in value. 
At present they bring about one-third less than 
corresponding qualities from the seas. There 
is a greater difference in the price of baroques. 
Fine Venezuelan baroques from a half to seven 
or eight grains are worth now thirty-five to 
fifty cents base. 

Some of these when mounted appear like 
279 



THE PEARL 

round or pear-shape pearls and are in good 
demand. Larger pieces can rarely be made to 
appear other than baroque and do not there- 
fore command as good figures. They seldom 
bring more than five dollars per grain flat, in 
sizes from ten to twenty grains. Fresh- water 
pearls likewise fetch better prices reckoned by 
the multiple in the smaller sizes, though they 
are usually quoted by the grain flat at five to 
twenty-five cents under ten grains, and twenty- 
five cents to three dollars per grain in larger 
sizes. 

Iridescent, finely tinted, very lustrous, straw- 
berry, and rose baroques of large size, are worth 
five dollars per grain and very exceptional 
pieces bring even more. Slugs, or ordinary 
baroques, are sold all the way from six dollars 
an ounce to ten cents per grain. Good wing- 
pearls can be bought at one to five cents per 
grain; small wings and rejections are sold by 
the ounce. 

Perfectly round fresh-water pearls of good 
quality and even skin are rare and prices are 
advancing steadily. Good buttons have ad- 
vanced fully twenty-five per cent, in the last 
280 



PRICE 

year. Fine fancies such as were found at one 
time in the Sugar River, Wisconsin, since the 
fisheries there have been exhausted, are scarce 
and high. 

The low prices paid by button manufacturers 
for mussel shells for the mother-of-pearl in 
them during the past year, has been one of the 
chief factors in reducing the quantity of pearls 
found and the consequent increase of price. 
It seldorri pays .the fisher to gather mussels for 
pearls only; it is the steady returns from the 
sale of the shells which ensures an adequate 
reward for his labors. Shells that once brought 
twenty dollars per ton fell during the early part 
of 1905 to a third of that amount and later 
went as low as two dollars and a half. They are 
now going up again. 

Many pearls are seriously injured by the 
practice of fishers who rely upon the sale of 
the shells for their returns, of throwing the 
mussels into vats of hot water to open them. 
The pearls released from the shells fall to the 
bottom and getting too near the hot iron are 
killed, which means that the luster is partially 
or wholly destroyed. 

281 



/*#? 



THE PEARL 

Dredging is now quite common and is doing 
much to deplete the mussel-beds of the west. 
When one bed is completely divested of shells, 
the clammer moves on to another and repeats 
the process, so that the supply of fresh-water 
pearls is coming to depend on the constant 
discovery of new mussel-beds. Unless legis- 
lation regulates the industry the American 
supply will soon cease. 

The cheapest fresh-water pearls in the market 
to-day are the finest. The pearlers along the 
streams of the west and south will no longer 
part with the pearls they find to the speculators 
at the old time prices. In fact they generally 
want much more than they are worth and 
often get more than the speculator can afford 
to pay to ensure a profit when he comes to sell 
them in the business centres. 

But these fishers know little of the merits 
and value of the finer qualities. They do not 
yet realize the great difference in value which 
accrues as the pearl exceeds the average of 
luster, color, or perfection, consequently the 
speculator can often buy a very fine pearl for 
little more than he would have to pay for an 
282 




THE MARCHIONESS OF LONDONDERRY 



PRICE 

ordinary pearl and though he knows that the 
piece is worth much more than he has paid, and 
tries to get as nearly what it is worth as he can, 
both his judgment and disposition to sell are 
affected by the low price he has paid and the 
chances are that he too in turn will sell it at 
much less than its relative value as compared 
with the ordinary market price of poor or 
medium quality goods. 

This condition will gradually change. As in 
the past the fisher learned more and more of the 
market value of ordinary pearls, so also he will 
learn to know the price of exceptional pieces and 
to know them when he has them. Even now, 
speculators hold fine large pearls at high prices 
because of the ready sale for them in Europe. 

It is difficult to compare the price of pearls 
in ancient times with that of to-day. We make 
much finer and closer assortments and grada- 
tions of quality and the business now is on a 
more distinctly commercial basis. People 
generally are better informed and more critical ; 
they are not influenced by wonder, sentiment, 
superstition and the "Arabian Nights" atmos- 
phere, as much as formerly. 

283 



THE PEARL 

The Orient is not as strange and far away as 
it was. In the old times, jewellers could and 
undoubtedly did take advantage of the awe 
with which things from the mysterious East 
were regarded, and of the general ignorance, to 
obtain large sums for very ordinary if not infer- 
ior gems. Even in these days, many are 
influenced more by the source from whence they 
come than by a critical knowledge of the gems 
they buy. Some, who would not buy the most 
beautiful fresh-water pearl, will pay an exorbi- 
tant price for one poorer and less valuable 
because it is oriental. La Pellegrina in the hands 
of an obscure dealer would be passed unnoticed 
by many who would be enraptured by a more 
ordinary gem from a jeweller or person of 
renown. 

It is presumable therefore that prejudice was 
more influential when ignorance prevailed to a 
greater extent than now. John Spruce of 
Edinburgh in 1705 complained that he could 
not sell a necklace or pendant of fine Scotch 
pearls in Scotland. He says "the generality 
seek for oriental pearls because farther fetched," 
and continues: "At this very day I can show 
284 



PRICE 

some of our own Scots pearls as fine, more hard 
and transparent than any oriental. It is true 
that the oriental can be easier matched, 
because they are all of a yellow water, yet 
foreigners covet Scots pearls." 

The price in those days was regulated by 
general appearance and loosely with regard to 
weight, rather than by definite assortment 
and the exact system of reckoning by the 
multiple of the weight as now, for he says, 
"If a Scotch pearl be of a fine transparent 
color and perfectly round and of any great 
bigness, it may be worth 15 to 50 rix dollars, 
yea I have given 100 rix dollars (about $82.00 
U. S.) for one." 

In 1862, Scotch pearls sold for about seventy- 
five cents to ten or twelve dollars each, an 
extraordinary piece bringing occasionally as 
much as twenty-five dollars, but after they were 
brought to the favorable notice of persons of 
distinction and it was known that Queen 
Victoria had bought one for one hundred and 
ten dollars, the price of them quadrupled. In 
the time of Charles II. of England an Irish pearl 
weighing 144 grains was valued at two hundred 

285 



THE PEARL 

dollars. In London during the early part of 
the nineteenth century, pearls from Panama of 
good size and quality brought about four 
dollars per grain. 

About 1865, fine oriental pearls were sold in 
London for $1.25 to $1.50 per grain in sizes up 
to three grains. Over that the price increased 
gradually with the size so that five grainers were 
worth about $2.50 per grain; ten grainers, $5.50 
per grain; twenty grainers $13.00 per grain and 
thirty grainers about $17.00 per grain. If their 
fine grade equalled ours, there has been a 
remarkable advance in the last forty years, as 
fine oriental round pearls of thirty grains to-day, 
are worth in the United States $240.00 per 
grain flat. 

Up to this time and after, prices were quoted 
very generally by the carat. Later, the method 
of reckoning by the square or multiple became 
more general, and the price went to about two 
dollars per carat, in London, or fifty cents per 
grain base for ordinary sizes, the larger ones 
being valued by the piece according to the 
individual rarity and particular qualities, as 
before. At the Navigator's islands in 1858, 
286 



PRICE 

fine round pearls of one to two grains were 
valued at about fifty cents per grain, the price 
increasing until those of twenty grains were 
considered worth twenty dollars per grain. 
Second class pearls under one grain, averaging 
half a grain, were sold for about five cents a 
grain. The same grade about nine grains 
average, were worth about sixty-five cents per 
grain. 

A third and fourth grade brought about 
twenty-five and fifty per cent, less respectively. 
These prices, compared with those of London, in- 
dicate that fine, large, round pearls commanded 
better prices then in the East than they did 
in Europe. Seed pearls sold at Tahiti for ten 
to fifteen dollars per pound. The island of 
Labuan, a British possession in the East Indian 
archipelago, shipped pearls to Singapore in 
the sixties at an average price of ten to fifteen 
cents per grain. In 1871, 35 ounces of pearls 
shipped from Guayaquil were valued at $100.00 
per ounce. 

As in former times, at many places where the 
fishing is done by independent naked divers, 
especially among the remote islands of the 

287 



THE PEARL 

South Sea, there is no grading of pearls or 
definite ideas of value. The natives dispose of 
their pearls, as they are able, to traders, often 
for a very small price. It is so to-day at many 
points in the Sulu archipelago from Mindanao 
to the Tawi Tawi islands. The smaller estab- 
lished fisheries of the seas east of China assort 
roughly and sell in bulk to buyers from neigh- 
boring trading centers. 

The output of the large fisheries is practically 
controlled by the great merchants of neighbor- 
ing cities who know the methods and intri- 
cacies peculiar to the localities. For instance, 
the pearls of Ceylon go to Madras, and Bom- 
bay handles the bulk of those from the 
Arabian coast and the Red Sea. Lower 
California pearls are marketed chiefly at La 
Paz. Those from Venezuela are shipped princi- 
pally to Paris and definite figures cannot be 
obtained. A few are brought to the United 
States direct from Venezuela, chiefly by Syrians 
who barter for them with the independent 
divers. These traders have no knowledge of 
market rates for assorted goods but sell them in 
mixed lots for as much as they can get. 
288 



PRICE 

The price of pearls of the first grade, in 
Ceylon in 1904, weighing four grains and up- 
wards each, was about $5.00 per grain. At 
Macassar, prices for the irregular shaped pearls 
of the Dutch Indies ranged from twenty-five 
cents to $1.25 per grain base according to 
quality. 

At the Ceylon fisheries, two-thirds of the 
oysters taken have been the government's 
share. These were auctioned off daily. The 
prices varied considerably, not only from fishing 
to fishing, but daily during the season. If the 
oysters sold one day, yielded well, prices went 
up and vice versa. In i860, at the beginning of 
the Tinnevelly fishery, they realized Rs 15. 
($7.50) per thousand and rose later to Rs 40. 
($20.00). In 1861 on the contrary they sold 
in the early part of the season for $35.00 to 
$40.00 and fell to $20.00, at one time touching 
$8.50. 

In 187 1, the Tuticorin catch brought a little 
over $40.00 per thousand average. The aver- 
age price paid in 1858 at the Ceylon fisheries 
was a little less than ten dollars, and as the 
pearl yield was good, the speculators made 
19 289 



THE PEARL 

enormous profits. In consequence, the average 
of 1859 went up to $22.50, the oysters bringing 
at one time during the season as much as 
$42.00; i860 realized an average of $66.00, the 
highest price paid during the season being 
$90.00. 

The fishery of 1863 though it realized more 
for the government on account of the large 
catch, brought an average of $33.50 per thou- 
sand only. In 1874 the oysters brought about 
$40.00 per thousand. Of late years the average 
has been less, ranging from $12.00 to $14.00 
though at times double that price has been 
paid. 

The pearls found in the oysters came quickly 
into the hands of Hindu merchants who assorted 
them and shipped a large part to Europe at 
prices much less than those which rule in the 
United States, though they usually made a 
good profit over cost. With the leasing of the 
Ceylon fisheries much of this speculative 
business will undoubtedly be eliminated and 
the pearls marketed at more regular prices. 

At fisheries where mother-of-pearl is the chief 
factor of the industry, it is difficult to get 
290 



PRICE 

statistics of the number or value of the pearls 
found, but in a general way India governs the 
market. Prices in other sections adjust them- 
selves to Madras and Bombay with such 
modifications as quality and place would 
naturally make. 

Mother-of-pearl shell varies in price from 
$250.00 to $500.00 per ton for Mexican to 
$700.00 to $800.00 per ton for the white shell 
of Australia and the South Sea. 



291 



IMITATION 
AND DOCTORED PEARLS 



IMITATION 
AND DOCTORED PEARLS 

In common with all other precious things, 
pearls have been long imitated. The early- 
method of making imitation or "mock-pearls" 
as they were called, was to cut them out of the 
mother-of-pearl and polish them. Another 
crude way was to make solid beads of glass 
containing various ingredients which gave them 
a slight similarity to the nacreous luster of the 
pearl. Beads of gypsum or alabaster were 
soaked in oil and coated with wax. The scales 
of the bleak fish dissolved in liquid ammonia or 
vinegar, was also used for covering beads, the 
solution imparting a somewhat pearly appear- 
ance. 

To coat one thousand ounces of glass beads, 
a French manufacturer used three ounces of 
fish-scales, one ounce white wax, one ounce 
pulverized alabaster and half an ounce fine 
parchment glue. Another made beads of opal 
glass which he covered with several layers of 

295 



THE PEARL 

isinglass; over this was laid another coating of 
a mixture of spirits of turpentine and copal, 
and a fat oil to exclude moisture from the 
isinglass, following it with a thin layer of tinted 
enamel to give resemblance to the orient of the 
pearl. 

Some claimed that the best artificial pearls 
were made from pulverized pearls. Seed pearls 
or valueless baroques were ground to a fine 
powder, soaked in lemon-juice or vinegar and 
mixed with gum tragacanth. The paste after 
being shaped and partially dried, was then 
enclosed in a loaf and baked in an oven. The 
luster was obtained by a final coating of fish- 
scale solution. A lighter and better imitation 
was made by blowing hollow glass beads. The 
inside surface was covered with a preparation 
from the fish-scales, after which the bead was 
filled with wax. This method continues in use 
to-day. 

The fish-scale solution used is a guanine, 
the mucus which lubricates the scales of the 
bleak fish (alburnus lucidus) . The white scales 
of the fish are carefully scraped into a horse-hair 
sieve over a shallow tub of fresh water. The 
296 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

first water is thrown away. The scales are then 
washed and pressed. The mucus sinks to the 
bottom and is gathered as an oily mass, very 
brilliant and bluish-white. This is packed with 
ammonia in tin boxes and sealed for shipment. 
It takes about 20,000 fish to make one pound of 
the mucus. 

A cheap imitation pearl is made of opal glass, 
a bluish- white milky appearing material, to 
which a pearly effect is given by treating it 
with fluoric acid. Imitation black pearls are 
made from hematite, but as they require careful 
finishing to hide the metallic luster and are 
much heavier than pearls, they are seldom used. 

The Chinese and Japanese have been much 
more ingenious in their methods and have long 
produced, with enforced aid from the animal, 
imitations which are in part real pearl. The 
former insert in the Chinese pearl-mussel 
(anodonta herculea) small figures of Buddha 
upon which the fish proceeds to deposit its 
nacre. When they are coated, which occurs in 
from one to two or three years, the pearly 
figures are extracted and sold to the devout. 

The Japanese do more. They attempt to 
297 



/ 



THE PEARL 

produce a marketable gem and have so far 
succeeded that a considerable number have 
been sold of late in the United States and in 
many cases the public buy them not knowing 
that they are an artificial production. The base 
upon which the nacre is deposited appears to 
be composed of a substance resembling porce- 
lain shaped like a low dome hollowed out on the 
under side and having a hole in the centre of 
the cavity. 

As there is no nacre on the under side, it 
must, when the button is placed in the mussel, 
be thereby protected from the action of the 
fish except at the edges where the nacreous 
deposit probably joins it to the shell but in 
such a manner that it can be easily detached. 
The pearl covered button is then fitted to a 
piece of polished mother-of-pearl of the same 
exterior size and shape and the two are neatly 
joined, forming a double low domed piece of 
pearl on one side, and mother-of-pearl on the 
other. These Japanese pearls as they are called, 
when mounted in a setting constructed to hide 
the under side, have the appearance of imperfect 
spheres of natural pearl. 
298 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

The beds where the culture of these arti- 
ficial pearls is carried on, are situated in the 
Bay of Ago, a few miles south of the Temple 
of Ise, in central Japan on the Pacific side. It 
is a quiet piece of water, in a coast broken by 
numerous inlets and coves. A little north of 
the centre of the bay is a small island called 
Tadoko where the necessary buildings and the 
men connected with the industry are. Around 
the island and near it, about 1,000 acres of 
sea bottom are leased and used for the pearl 
oyster cultivation. The water is about five 
to seven fathoms deep. 

The oyster used is the one common to the 
waters of Japan, the Avicula martensii Dunker. 
In May and June, stones weighing six to eight 
pounds are scattered over the bottom of the 
sheltered shallows which run up into the land, 
where the spat is collected. The breeding 
season is in July to August and in the latter 
month very tiny shells attached to the stones 
by the byssus may be seen already. 

The number increases as the season advances 
until in November, in order to protect the 
young fish from the approaching winter cold, 

299 



THE PEARL 

the stones lying in very shallow water are 
removed with the adhering oysters to deeper 
water — over six feet. After three years the 
oysters are taken out and the nuclei of the 
culture pearl inserted. This done, they are 
spread over the sea bottom, about one to every 
square foot and left undisturbed for four years. 
They are then taken out and opened and both 
the culture pearls and whatever natural pearls 
there may be, are harvested. At present, 
upwards of a quarter of a million oysters are 
treated annually. 

Experiments are being made constantly, in 
the United States and Europe, to improve upon 
the hollow glass bead lined with fish-scale but 
so far without success. The finest of these 
imitate the natural pearl very well and if 
finely mounted similar to the genuine, will 
deceive many while worn. Closer observation 
will reveal the glassy shine of the surface and 
it will be found under the loup to contain 
numerous small holes. The specific gravity is 
also less. 

One finds occasionally in lots, a mock-pearl 
which has been cut and polished from the 
300 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

mother-of-pearl, but imitations of this character 
are scarce and find no place in the market. The 
few made are found usually in parcels of fresh- 
water pearls and are put there by unscrupulous 
dealers, as also are hematite balls and even 
buckshot, to be sold with the lot by weight as 
genuine pearls. 

Since the price of pearls has advanced so 
rapidly, much ingenuity has been shown in the 
improvement of poor pearls. Button pearls 
grown to the shell are broken out and the under 
or flat side carefully scraped and smoothed to 
hide the irregular lines of juncture between 
the pearl and the shell. Protuberances on the 
surface of round pearls are scraped off and the 
broken skin edges smoothed down so as to be 
unnoticeable to the naked eye. 

In a like manner chalky rings and spots are 
toned down. Surface cracks are filled by soak- 
ing the pearls in a solution and if the pearl has 
been pierced, interior cracks can also be 
rendered unobservable. A serious objection to 
pierced pearls arises from the ease with which 
interior defects can be doctored where the skin 
is pierced and a boring made through the 

301 



THE PEARL 

nacreous layers. Not only are cracks made to 
disappear, but coloring matter can be intro- 
duced between the skins. A white pearl of 
very poor color can by such means be changed 
temporarily into a black pearl which will com- 
mand a fancy price. This illegitimate doctor- 
ing of pearls, whereby defects are hidden and a 
fictitious appearance of quality imparted to last 
long enough to make sales at exorbitant prices, 
should not be confounded with the legitimate 
improvement of pearls which is now growing to 
be an industry of some importance. Experts 
are now able by careful manipulation to restore 
to some extent the luster which has been lost 
by wear or age. 

Formerly this was done by skinning the 
pearl, i.e., removing the outer skin by peeling 
it carefully off with the edge of a sharp knife, an 
unsatisfactory method at best, as the under 
skin may not be good and if all the outer skin 
is not taken off, the broken edges of the layers 
composing the skin, mar the luster and color 
when the pearl is worn. Few also succeed in 
removing a skin without scratching the new one 
disclosed by its removal. 
302 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

Pearls having a decidedly bad outer skin 
with a good one under it, can only be materially 
improved by removing the bad skin, but owing 
to the liability of finding equally bad imper- 
fections underneath, or irregularities which 
would necessitate the removal of several skins 
with a consequent loss of size and weight, pearls 
with minor imperfections or lack of luster are 
now slowly rubbed between the fingers, the 
abrasion being assisted by various substances 
which differ with the judgment and experience 
of the operator, the preparation being in all 
cases kept secret by the expert using it. Many 
fine pearls which have lost their pristine luster 
are now considerably improved by this method, 
and without the dangers involved and the 
necessary loss of weight, consequent on peeling. 

Large numbers of poor or imperfect pearls 
are scraped or otherwise doctored by the traders 
and speculators at the fisheries. These men 
acquire such pearls at a slight cost, and by 
various methods fix them so that by mixing 
them in lots with good pearls, they often make 
large profits. They also mix in many cracked 
pearls. This is done more often at Margarita 

303 



THE PEARL 

and the other Venezuelan fisheries where the 
proportion of cracked pearls is greater than in 
the Indian and South Sea fisheries. 

The skins of a pearl may also be removed by 
the application of weak acids, but this method 
requires careful and expert handling or the 
acid will act irregularly and leave the surface, 
if improved in luster, uneven and pitted. 

Few important fresh-water baroques and 
irregular pearls leave the west without receiving 
the attention of the speculators through whose 
hands they pass, and the scraping is often very 
roughly done. Rough and discolored projec- 
tions are broken or filed off and then scraped 
over with a knife edge. While fresh, the broken 
skin edges left thus will often pass unnoticed 
by a careless buyer, but they become discolored 
and dead later. Unless one buys of a dealer in 
whom implicit confidence may be placed, not 
alone for honesty but for his knowledge of 
pearls, it is better to examine all pearls under a 
glass before purchasing. 

As many persons both in the trade and out 
of it, are not sufficiently familiar with pearls 
to be quite sure of their ability to detect the 
304 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

genuine from fine imitations, the following 
points of difference will be of service. All 
imitation pearls made of some solid material 
are heavier than the genuine and lack the pearly 
characteristics of the fine imitations even. If 
made of solid glass without acid finish, they 
are shiny and too poor to require a second con- 
sideration, if acid finished they have a "ground- 
glass" appearance which is unmistakable. If 
made of other material of a vitreous nature, 
they are heavier than pearls, dull in luster or 
without luster, dark in color and unmistakably 
lacking in pearly characteristics. The only 
dangerous imitations are the Japan culture 
pearls and the hollow, glass bead-pearls. The 
former may always be recognized by the mother- 
of-pearl back, the latter by various signs. 

All these hollow glass beads, have one or 
two holes. They are coated on the inside with 
fish-scale solution and filled with wax. Some 
are treated with acid or sand-blasted to tone 
down the shiny, glassy appearing surface, and 
to hide the blow-holes in the glass. The effect 
is quite pearly, but the color is somewhat darker 
and they show some iridescence. Without the 
20 305 



THE PEARL 

surface treatment they are more shiny and 
under the loup one will discover the small 
blow-holes peculiar to surfaces which have been 
molten. 

The rims of the holes have a smooth, rounded, 
congealed appearance, whereas holes in pearls 
have a rough, square, chalky edge. On looking 
diagonally into the hole of a glass bead, the 
glass will appear as a dark ring against the wax 
filling, and where there are two holes, one will 
almost invariably have a ring in the glass, a 
short distance from and around it. The surface 
over the ring is smooth, though it looks as if it 
were ridged ; the ring is in the glass, not on it. 

These hollow-blown glass pearls are lighter 
than the real pearls also. There is one never 
failing test however which discovers even the 
best of these most dangerous imitations. Drop 
a small spot of ink from the point of a pen upon 
one, and hold it between the eye and the light, 
when two spots will appear, the one nearest to 
the eye being a reflection from the inner wall 
of the glass resting against the wax, of the 
actual ink spot on the surface. The duplicate 
spot will be lighter in color than the original. 
306 



IMITATIONS AND DOCTORED 

On a real pearl there would be no such reflection, 
nor would it appear on a solid bead imitation, 
but as before stated, the weight of the latter 
betrays them, as they are heavier than the real, 
nor do they look as pearly, and on holding 
them between the eye and light they do not 
show the translucency at the edge of the cir- 
cumference peculiar in a more or less degree, 
to the gem. 



307 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

In ancient days there was a belief in the east 
that at the full of the moon the pearl-oyster 
rose to the surface of the sea and opened its 
shell to receive the falling dew-drops. These 
congealing, hardened into pearls. Similarly, 
the natives of India believed that Buddha in 
certain months showered upon the earth, dew- 
drops from heaven, which the oyster, floating 
on the waters to breathe, received and held 
until they hardened and became pearls. These 
poetical imaginations of the Orientals were 
carried west with the pearls. Poets embodied 
them in verse. Prose writers, losing the poetry 
of the fable, trimmed them to the bare state- 
ments of impossible facts. An English writer 
early in the eighteenth century speaking of the 
mussels in the streams of northern England said 
that "gaping eagerly and sucking in their dewy 
streams they did conceive and bring forth a 
great plenty of pearls." 

Later writers also attributed the origin of 
311 



THE PEARL 

pearls to the reception of raindrops from 
heaven by the oyster, and one gravely as- 
serted that the fishermen always found more 
pearls after a season of heavy rains. He did 
not state that the oysters rose to the sur- 
face of the sea to receive the raindrops, 
neither did he explain how these drops from 
heaven passed through the brine to the oyster 
inviolate. Pliny was more definite; he stated 
that the quality of the pearls varied with that 
of the dew from which they were formed and 
were clear or turbid as it was. The pearl would 
be pale-colored if the weather was cloudy when 
the dew fell into the shell, and large if the dew 
was plentiful. Thunder during the reception 
of the drop resulted in a hollow pearl and if 
lightning caused the shell to close suddenly the 
pearl would be small. 

The people of Java and Borneo had a belief 
which should have been yet more difficult to 
acquire. They asserted that the pearls them- 
selves breed and increase in number if placed in 
cotton. Clusters of twinned pearls were said 
to be produced thus, and it is related that some 
had the audacity to sell breeding pearls claim- 
312 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

ing to distinguish the male from the female. 
This fable also travelled west and was received 
by the credulous. M. S. Lovell in his "Edible 
Mollusks" says, "A Spanish lady informed a 
friend of mine that if seed pearls were shut up 
in cotton-wool they would increase either in 
size or in number." 

To this day the ancient superstition, or belief, 
is believed not only by sea-board Malays, but 
by Europeans, and there are those who claim 
to own breeding pearls and to have bred from 
them. The pearls are. placed in a box with a 
layer of cotton-seed and a few grains of rice, 
under and over them. The box is then closed 
and in a year, if one account given is a fair 
statement of average results, one may look for 
a four-fold increase, though the children will 
not be as large as the parents. Some of them 
may be as large as a pin head. The rice will 
look crumbly and worm-eaten. 

Another breeder of pearls says that the 
breeding pearls themselves grow in size and if 
the box has been kept undisturbed, there will 
be found with them at the end of the year 
others of various sizes, some almost microscopic. 

313 



THE PEARL 

A year later these would be larger. It is also 
said that when a pearl is about to breed, a 
small black speck makes its appearance on the 
surface, and that during the period of breeding 
the pearl changes its shape from a sphere to 
an irregular ovoid, and develops layers of scales 
on the surface visible to the naked eye. 

After a time, the breeding pearls change their 
orient to a dirty white, the scales having peeled 
off. In all cases the rice looks as though some 
beetle had taken a circular bite out of the end 
of each kernel. Somehow a perusal of the 
accounts of the remarkable results, leaves the 
reader with a conglomerate impression of 
transformed rice and imagination. 

Nevertheless, the breeding of pearls in cotton- 
wool or cotton-seed with rice, is asserted and 
believed, and the methods by which the wonder 
is accomplished may be had with great circum- 
stance and some variations from those who have 
experimented. No greater evidence exists of 
the child-like faith of people in the old times 
than the incredible stories about precious stones 
which were current in those days. 

It is equally wonderful that although it took 
314 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

centuries to disprove them, they received 
credence for more centuries after they were 
shown to be impossible and one hears those 
same delightful fairy stories about angel's tears, 
drops of dew from heaven, raindrops, etc., seri- 
ously quoted in this matter-of-fact land to-day, 
often by people who after a moment's thought 
would become conscious of their fallacy. 

But romance abhors reason, and though 
oysters cannot rise to the surface of the sea, 
nor raindrops pass immaculate through the 
ocean to the gaping mollusks, nor the downpour 
of one season increase the yield at once of things 
which are the growth of years, there will long 
remain some who will refuse the dictum of the 
biologist, that unless the dews of heaven and 
the tears of angels carry much lime in solution, 
the calcareous surroundings of the oyster's bed 
must have more to do with the genesis of the 
pearl than anything dropped into the ocean by 
the clouds above it, and will still cling to fancy 
in the face of fact. Meantime the priests of 
Buddha exact charity oysters from the fishers 
of their faith, that the god thus propitiated may 
cause the oysters to yield more pearls. 

315 



THE PEARL 

A question often raised, and which by its 
periodical revival seems to be a favorite with 
newspapers and magazines, as well as, to the 
general public, is, "Do pearls live and die?" 
It originated probably in observations of cer- 
tain changes that occasionally take place in 
pearls which could be readily construed by a 
speculative or imaginative mind to mean death. 
Sometimes with pearls the brilliancy of youth 
fades and passes and the clear skin of early 
days takes on the hue of age. 

If now a ready pen waited on fancy to state 
the facts it would establish an imaginative 
theory for centuries, for like gossip, a thing 
once printed in a book will long pass on unques- 
tioned and be quoted or re-stated many times. 
There are pearls which for certain qualities 
invite as a descriptive term the word live. 
There are others which by comparison appear, 
and are described, as dead. Then there are 
others that lose by untoward circumstances the 
live qualities they once possessed and without 
dying become dead pearls. The calcite car- 
bonate crystals of which they are formed dis- 
solve in acids and are affected to a certain 
316 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

extent by the acidity of the excretions of the 
human skin, sufficiently in some cases to 
destroy, or at any rate dim, their luster. 

Gases in the atmosphere, sudden changes in 
temperature, heat, and various other influences 
operate more or less in the same direction. The 
chemical changes thus produced might with 
poetic license be called the death of the pearl 
and in a sense the term would be true were the 
whole pearl involved, but as a rule these mis- 
fortunes affect the outer skin of the pearl only, 
so if that dies death is but skin deep, a live 
pearl remaining beneath it. 

As life and death means the segregation of 
particles into a compact individuality and their 
final dissolution, pearls like all other things in 
the restless economy of nature live and die, but 
the loss of some of its native charms by the gem 
is not more a sign of death than the rougher 
cuticle of a weather beaten sailor with which ex- 
posure has replaced the smooth skin of the boy. 

Nevertheless the idea of death coming to the 
pearl fascinates and enterprising writers succeed 
in frequently placing very interesting and 
readable articles before the public which incite 

3*7 



THE PEARL 

the wonderment of the reader and perpetuate 
the impression that this beloved gem is some 
sort of a living creature subject to human 
vicissitudes. Lately a story appeared in current 
publications which told how the pearls of a 
lady's necklace sickened and lost their beauty. 
Much distressed she carried them to the expert 
dealer of whom she bought them who gravely 
advised her to let her maid wear them where- 
upon, they recovered from the illness and their 
lustrous beauty was restored. 

Twentieth century versions of fables older 
than this era are common; shrewd traders and 
writers use them, nor are they always careful 
to attach the fable to the particular gem to 
which, by right of ancient usage, it belongs. 
The magical loss of color in the presence of 
impending danger to its wearer is the ruby's 
prerogative, but, though pearls may lose their 
charms by exposure to heat, gas and rough 
usage, the wily orientals of remote or later ages 
provided no traditional recovery more wonder- 
ful than the prosaic method of feeding them to 
fowls and cutting them out of the gizzard an 
hour or two later. 

318 



FACETS AND FANCIES 

The pearl is generally considered to be the 
emblem of innocence and purity. A pretty 
fashion in vogue among parents who can afford 
it, is of giving a pearl to each of their daughters 
on their birthdays. These are carefully matched 
and strung so that the -string grows to a necklace 
for maturer years. 

Along with the emblematic idea and the 
fanciful notion of their origin, there comes to 
us from the old days a superstition concerning 
pearls which probably grew out of the state- 
ment that they were the congealed tears of 
heaven. It was supposed that they brought 
tears to their possessors. The idea originated 
probably about a thousand years ago in western 
Europe. It did not exist in Rome during the 
time of the Csesars for the pearl was then the 
sign of power and affluence and was coveted 
by men and women alike and it remains a most 
popular gem in Italy to-day. 

This absurdity has been kept alive by stories 
of prominent persons in whose experience 
occurrences seemed to confirm the claim. The 
Queen of Henry IV. of France dreamt that 
her diamonds were turned to pearls the night 
319 



THE PEARL 

previous to her husband's assassination by 
Ravaillac. The consort of James IV. of Scotland 
dreamt of pearls three nights in succession before 
the disastrous battle of Flodden Field in which 
he lost his life. These and similar stories which 
appeal to a love of the mysterious and wonder- 
ful have been perpetuated by writers of books, 
so that even to-day there are women who 
coveting pearls still fear to own them. 

But to be out of the fashion is more dreadful 
to women than tears, so it has come to pass that 
with the increasing vogue of the pearl, less is 
heard of the superstition and it is dying, not 
of age or the contempt of knowledge, but by the 
potency of fashion. 

A story already referred to in these pages, 
that has been current for over two thousand 
years during which time it has been mentioned 
by almost every writer about pearls, deserves, 
for its antiquity and absurdity, consideration 
here. It is of Cleopatra and the pearl worth 
upwards of three hundred thousand dollars she 
is said to have dissolved in wine to drink in 
costly fashion to her lover. This was, of course, 
impossible. She may, with the help of the wine 
320 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

have swallowed ,it like a pill or, as Sir Thomas 
Gresham did later, have ground it to powder 
and mixed it with the wine she drank, but to 
dissolve a pearl of great size as one of this 
value would be, was a conjurer's feat. 

The lime of which a pearl is chiefly composed 
will dissolve in acid, but the gem although 
softened, would remain a pulpy mass held by 
the organic matter interwoven throughout the 
strata of calcium carbonate. Whatever she 
really did, or in what form she swallowed the 
pearl, if she did so, Cleopatra and her pearl 
are better known to-day to the general public 
than either of her Roman lovers, and they will 
probably be handed down through many 
generations yet to come. 

To exaggerate is a common tendency. Deal- 
ers usually place inordinately high figures on 
exceptional gems which they do for several 
reasons: the great price excites wonder and 
interest; it makes a large profit possible; it 
permits considerable reduction to a shrewd 
buyer; and it pleases the person who finally 
purchases it, for if the sale is made public the 
first asking price is usually given as the value 

21 321 



THE PEARL 

of the jewel, and sometimes even that is ex- 
ceeded. The buyer prefers to have it so because 
it increases the importance of his possession in 
the public mind and paves the way for a good 
price if he too at any time should wish to sell. 

One reads constantly in the daily papers of 
sales where the prices given are enormously 
beyond the sums actually paid, for the public 
like big figures. Reporters know this and do 
not fail to supply the demand. For instance: 
in an eastern city of the United States, a man 
while at a lunch counter found a pearl in the 
oyster he was eating. He took it at once to 
a jeweller of his aquaintance who handed it to 
a New York pearl-dealer present and asked 
him to value it. 

The pearl was large and round but, like all 
such formations in the edible oyster, quite 
devoid of the nacre which constitutes a true 
pearl. The dealer so informed them, adding 
casually, "If it were a true pearl it would be 
worth several thousand dollars." An evening 
paper that day had a half column story about 
it with, "A pearl worth five thousand dollars 
found in an oyster at a lunch-counter," in 
322 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

black head-lines, and the morning papers of 
the following day enlarged the story by adding 
fanciful details. 

Undoubtedly in the old days of license when 
immense fortunes were made not only in trade 
but by piratical wars, large prices were paid by 
fortune's favorites for pearls but it is extremely 
probable that report, bruited from mouth to 
mouth, exaggerated even more than the printed 
fables of our times do. It is doubtful if the 
pearls of ancient chronicles were as fine, judged 
by the standards of to-day, as we imagine or 
that all of them were as large as reported. The 
public were more ignorant about them than 
now and also more credulous and these invite 
exaggeration. 

Very large pearls which for perfection of 
shape, luster and freedom from flaws are beyond 
criticism, are the most rare of all gems. The 
conditions under which a pearl grows, makes 
large size, without the development of irregu- 
larities in the form and imperfections in the 
skin, almost impossible; and as they all grow 
in the same way, by the same process, out of the 
same sources of supply and subject to the same 

3 2 3 



THE PEARL 

limitations, we find big and little, fine and 
ordinary, in about the same proportions as 
they occurred thousands of years ago ; the fish 
that made them then makes them now, in the 
same kind of a narrow workshop and within 
the bounds of a life whose duration has not 
changed. 

Of very ancient historic pearls, the only one 
of which we have reliable and expert knowl- 
edge, is that of the Shah of Persia seen by 
Ta vernier. This and La Peregrina are supposed 
to be still in existence. Of the very large pearls 
generally mentioned by writers, three undoubt- 
edly exist, viz., La Pellegrina, the Beresford 
Hope and one of medium quality in the Austrian 
Crown weighing about twelve hundred grains. 

It is probable that very many pearls have 
been found, which if generally known would 
have become celebrated, but of those chroni- 
cled, most have passed out of public knowledge. 
It is probable that some of those about which 
much has been written were not as beautiful 
as others which have escaped notoriety. The 
writer's habit of drawing upon the past to 
illustrate a subject, has narrowed the literature 
324 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

of pearls to reiterated records of a few great 
pearls which one by one have been brought to 
public notice during the past centuries. 

Exact and reliable statements about gems 
are a modern innovation. In the old times 
unverified report was the only evidence the 
general public had of them. Crown jewellers, 
not always quite reliable, would make public 
some statements in general terms about the 
jewels of a reigning house. Occasionally, as in 
the case of France, the state had the crown 
jewels inventoried so that some fairly definite 
knowledge could be had of them. Infrequently 
a traveller published his observations, made 
under more or less favorable circumstances, 
of the jewels of some oriental prince. Chief 
of these was Ta vernier, the French jeweller. 
He not only had expert knowledge of gems but 
was able by recommendations of the French 
court, to gain such access to the jewels of 
eastern princes and dealers that he could make 
critical examinations of them. 

For various reasons it is extremely difficult 
also in these days to obtain accurate knowledge 
of extraordinary gems. Dealers for business 

3 2 5 



THE PEARL 

reasons are chary of information, nor will they 
make such pieces common by allowing many to 
see and handle them. The buyer is equally 
averse to publicity, so that exact knowledge 
does not pass far beyond the dealer and his 
customer as a rule. 

The finest pearl known is that in the Museum 
of Zosima, in Moscow, called La Pellegrina. 
It is perfectly round and so lustrous that it 
appears to be transparent. It weighs about 
112 grains and was bought of the captain of an 
East India ship at Leghorn. 

The largest known pearl to-day is in the 
Beresford Hope collection shown at the South 
Kensington Museum, London. It is two inches 
long and its circumference is four and a half 
inches. It weighs three ounces (1818 grains). 

Ta vernier saw a pearl in 1663 belonging to 
the Shah of Persia which was valued at 3200 
tomans or about $320,000 of our money. It 
was very perfect, pear-shaped, and nearly three 
inches long. It is believed to have come from 
the ancient fishery at Catifa in Arabia. Even 
this great sum was exceeded by Pliny in his 
estimate of the pearl Cleopatra is said to have 
326 




COUNTESS TORBY 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

swallowed. He placed the value of that at 
$375,000. As the Shah's pearl was about 
three inches long, Cleopatra's must have been 
large enough to reflect on the story connected 
with it. 

It is said Julius Cassar presented a pearl 
valued at an equivalent of nearly $250,000 to 
Servilla the sister of Cato of Utica and mother 
of Marcus Junius Brutus. The pearl taken from 
the ear-drop of Caecilia Metella by Clodius to 
dissolve and drink in vinegar was valued at 
$40,000. 

A large pear-shaped pearl weighing one 
thousand grains was found at the island of 
Margarita off the Colombian coast and given 
to Philip II. of Spain. Some reports say it was 
obtained in 1579; others give the date as 1560 
and say it was presented to the monarch by 
Don Diego de Temes. It was valued then at 
something over $30,000, but Freco, the king's 
jeweller, said it might be worth twice to twenty 
times as much for such a gem was priceless. 
It was later known among the crown jewels as 
La Peregrina. Prior to this, a companion of 
Magellan reported having seen two pearls as 

3 2 7 



THE PEARL 

large as hen's eggs in the possession of the 
Rajah of Borneo. 

The pearl which Sir Thomas Gresham drank 
in his wine to Elizabeth of England is said to 
have been worth seventy-five thousand dollars. 
It was reported some years ago that the Queen 
of the Gambiers owned a pearl of extraordinary 
luster, as large as a pigeon's egg. There is a 
story that in 1779 a pearl weighing 2312 grains 
which cost in India $22,500, was offered for 
sale in St. Petersburg. It was called the 
sleeping lion because of its shape and must 
have been therefore a baroque. 

The republic of Venice presented a pearl to 
Soliman The Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey, 
which was valued at $80,000, and Pope Leo X. 
bought one of a Venetian jeweller for $70,000. 
These sums make the prices of to-day seem 
insignificant and it is very probable that many 
of the pearls which brought such large amounts 
would not pass criticism now. Perhaps one 
reason for the scarcity of large pearls among 
those taken from the fisheries in this age is 
that many of them are classed as baroques or 
are not sufficiently fine and perfect to attract 
328 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

attention. They pass therefore among those 
considered unworthy of notice. 

A brown pearl valued at $25,000 was exhib- 
ited by Marchisini of Florence at the Maritime 
International Exhibition at Naples in 1871. 
Among the Dudley pearls exhibited at the 
London Exhibition of 1872 was a necklace of 
exceptionally fine pearls valued at $150,000. 
The late Czar of Russia spent twenty-five years 
in collecting sufficient perfect Virgin pearls to 
form a necklace for his wife. The Countess 
Henckel owns a necklace of pearls which for 
value and associations is unrivalled. It is 
composed of three strands, each at one time 
being a separate and historical necklace. One 
was the famous necklace belonging to the 
Empress Eugenie which has been valued at 
^20,000; one known as "the necklace of the 
Virgin of Atokha," formerly owned by a 
member of the Spanish nobility, the third 
belonged to the ex-Queen of Naples. For 
value this is exceeded by a single strand 
necklace of large pearls lately bought by a 
western millionaire of the United States. It is 
composed of thirty-seven pearls ranging from 
3 2 9 



THE PEARL 

eighteen to fifty-two and three-quarter grains 
each, the latter being the largest central pearl. 
The combined weight of the pearls is 979! 
grains and the value is given at $400,000. 

A very beautiful and nearly perfect pear- 
shaped pearl was found on the north-east coast 
of Australia in the seventies. It weighed 159 
grains. There is a pearl about the size of a 
pigeon's egg in the French crown jewels, valued 
at $8,000. Many fine pearls, especially black 
or colored, have been found on the Mexican 
coast during the last twenty-five years, among 
them a black pearl of 162 grains and another of 
108 grains, a white pear shape weighing 176 
grains, an oval of 128 grains, and three weighing 
300 grains, 180 grains and 372 grains respec- 
tively, the first two being found in the same 
year. 

In the World's Fair in Paris, 1889, seven 
black pearls from this district, valued at $22,000 
were exhibited. These and others are described 
in "Gems and Precious Stones" by Kunz. No 
fresh-water pearl has attained an equal notor- 
iety with the Queen pearl found at Notch 
Brook near Paterson, New Jersey, in 1857. It 

33° 



FACTS AND FANCIES 

weighed 93 grains and was sold to the Empress 
Eugenie. 

Another round pearl of 400 grains, ruined 
by boiling, had it been properly extracted from 
the mussel, would probably have been the 
finest and most notable pearl of this age, though 
another as large as a pigeon's egg, dropped from 
the mollusk and lost when the shell was opened, 
might have rivalled it. The finder was wading 
in a stream in Ohio, feeling for the projecting 
edges of the mussels with his feet, and opening 
them as he brought them to the surface, as was 
custom there. This, however, may have been 
like the fish that got away. 



33 ] 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

111 all ., countries where woman has been 
enthroned in the respect as well as the affections 
of man, the pearl has been inseparably connected 
with her in his mind as a peculiarly fitting 
accompaniment to feminine loveliness. In the 
romantic dreams of youth, which hide betimes 
the harsh realism of life under a golden haze of 
imagery; where belted knights and fair ladies 
live and move unfettered, and all the impossible 
delights of sweet desire free from untoward 
consequences are reasonable; where invincible 
swords have no thought of the horrors of 
carnage, and unimpeded love is without cold 
calculation or following of sorrow, pearls 
everywhere shimmer. 

And when in his exalted moods man paints 
the shadow picture of the goddess of his life, 
he finds one gem alone befitting with which to 
deck her, namely, the pearl. This has come to 
pass probably because the ideal qualities of 
woman and the sea gem are alike, purity and 

335 



THE PEARL 

modesty. The beauty of the most lustrous 
pearl is unobtrusive and its quality is virginal. 
In our visions of the spectral past, the shades of 
the consorts of the mighty all wear them. 

Pearls hang pendent from the ears of Egypt's 
voluptuous queens, and Rome's proud matrons. 
Pearls clasp the dainty flesh of Moslem houris 
and rest in the soft folds of draperies that cling 
about those daughters of the Orient, the com- 
mon mortals of their day might not look upon. 
Great pearls hang festooned and pendent round 
the necks of lightly draped Dianas of the 
warm south lands, and coiled about the brown 
arms of the daughters of the chiefs in far-off 
islands of the South Seas. 

Upon reclining figures in the ancient palaces 
of Persia and Arab tents: wherever the proud 
women of the conquering Occident move in 
stately measure across the high terraces of 
noble 'placement: in all dreams of fair women 
and brave men, are swords and pearls. And 
this is so because in all the ages, women of 
high position have loved pearls and writers 
have told it. In our old world so far, neither 
earth nor sea has yielded ought else so fit 
336 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

to lie in the bosom of woman, or to symbolize 
her character and beauty, as the chaste and 
dainty pearl. 

This high atmosphere of precious supremacy 
and reverence, which surrounds the gem now 
as it has for more than twenty centuries, is a 
legacy of Rome. The east loved pearls as 
beautiful and precious trinkets; while Rome 
gave to them imperial honors and drew around 
them the mystic circle of patrician favor. And 
since that day, in every land where an aristo- 
cracy existed or came into existence, pearls 
have been the familiars of the exclusive. 

This natural fitness of the gem for refined 
associations is recognized by Emerson in his 
"Friendship." He says: 

Thou foolish Hafiz! Say! do churls 
Know the worth of Oman's pearls? 
Give the gem which dims the moon 
To the noblest, or to none. 

It is a late echo of the scriptural saying, "Cast 
not your pearls before swine." No modern 
poet shows more knowledge of the nature, or 
a more just appreciation of the delicate beauty 
of the gem than Emerson. In his "May Day," 
22 337 



THE PEARL 

speaking of the tardiness of the spring, he writes : 
"Slow grows the palm, too slow the pearl." 

Evidently he knew of the slow process by 
which the successive coats of filmy nacre 
increase the size of the growing gem. Likewise 
a couplet in " Nature" betrays the poet's obser- 
vation of the iridescent nature of the colors in 
mother-of-pearl, and in the gem occasionally 
when those fleeting tints are added to the beauty 
of its luster ; the lines are a dainty illustration : 

Illusions like the tints of pearl, 
Or changing colors of the sky. 

Some of the great poets, notably Tennyson, 
apparently confuse the gem with its mother-of- 
pearl, or refer to the latter only when they speak 
of pearl. In his "Recollections of the Arabian 
Nights," however, Tennyson in describing one 
of his beauties evidently refers to the gem: 

And a brow of pearl 
Tressed with redolent ebony. 

Writing of the mermaid, the lines are more 
suggestive of the shell nacre : 

Combing her hair 
Under the sea, 
In a golden curl 
With a comb of pearl. 

338 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

Again in a sonnet, he evidently refers to mother- 
of-pearl when he says: 

All night through archways of the bridged pearl. 
And portals of pure silver, walks the moon. 

This indiscriminate use of the gem's name to 
appropriate its pearly characteristics is a com- 
mon poetic license. In Ben Jonson's "Hymn 
to Diana," he bids her, 

Lay thy bow of pearl apart. 

Sometimes metaphor is worse mixed, as 
when Milton in ' ' Paradise Lost ' ' describes the 
waters above the firmament about the gate of 
Heaven thus : 

And underneath a bright sea flowed 
Of jasper, or of liquid pearl. 

In this poem of gorgeous description, the 
author makes several allusions to the gem and 
some of them, especially those in his word 
paintings of scenes in Eden, are poetically 
beautiful and true. One delightful to the eye 
of the mind, 

How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks 
Rolling on orient pearls and sands of gold, 

and another in the description of morning in 

339 



THE PEARL 

Eden, equally beautiful though it takes more 
license : 

Now Morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime 
Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl. 

In his ' ' Epitaph on the Marchioness of Win- 
chester," a couplet shows that he was familiar 
with the superstition of sorrow connected with 
them: 

And those pearls of dew she wears, 
Proove to be presaging tears. 

Herrick also associated pearls and tears though 
more happily as in "Corinna's Maying." 

Besides, the childhood of the day has kept, 
Against you come, some orient pearls unwept. 

The same poet makes charming reference to 
pearls in his poem entitled : "To Daffodils." 

Or as the pearls of morning dew 
Ne'er to be found again. 

Shakespeare made frequent reference to the 
gem, sometimes to illustrate the magnificence 
of wealth and station but more frequently in 
connection with dew and tears. Oberon says: 

And that same dew, which some time on the buds 
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls. 

34° 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

King Richard III. when he argues with Queen 
Elizabeth for her daughter's hand in marriage, 
promises with smooth and brazen villany to 
so offset the wrongs he had done her, that: 

The liquid drops of tears that you have shed 
Shall come again, transformed to orient pearls. 

In ' ' King John ' ' Elinor speaking to Constance 
of Arthur, says, "Draw those heaven moving 
pearls from his poor eyes;" and in "King 
Lear," one of the gentlemen, speaking of the 
Queen of France when she received the news 
he carried, describes her mood thus: 

Those happy smilets, 
That played on her ripe lip, seemed not to know 
What guests were in her eyes, which parted thence, 
As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. 

In " Midsummer Night's Dream," Lysander says 
to Helen : 

To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold 
Her silver visage in the wat'ry glass, 
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass. 

Among his recognitions of pearls as a sign of the 
luxury of wealth and high position, he makes a 
lord say, in the "Taming of the Shrew," 

Or wilt thou ride? Thy horses shall be trapp'd 
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl. 

34i 



THE PEARL 

And in " King Henry V," the King while deplor- 
ing the sorrows incident to kingship, says : 

Tis not 
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl 
That beats upon the high shore of this world. 

These two quotations indicate that the Roman 
custom of decorating robes and even the harness 
of horses with pearls was followed in Shake- 
speare's day by the nobles. 

A line suggestive of the high-esteem in which 
the pearl was held in his day, and often quoted, 
occurs in Othello's grand but heart-broken self- 
denunciation just before he stabs himself: 

Of one, whose hand 
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away, 
Richer than all his tribe. 

It is evident also that stories were current then 
of the western Indian's ignorant prodigality 
in the disposition of things common to him but 
very precious among more enlightened people. 

In "King Richard III," Duke Clarence sees 
in his dream of drowning, "Wedges of gold, 
great anchors, heaps of pearl." 

Several times the great dramatist puts the 
gem in somewhat grewsome setting. In "A 
Sea Dirge" however, the bare horror of the 
342 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

idea which grins at one in similar connections, 
is transformed by the poetry in which it is 
draped : 

These are pearls that were his eyes: 
Nothing of him that doth fade, 

But doth suffer a sea-change 

Into something rich and strange. 

A favorite use of the sea-gem by the lighter 
poets is to adorn their images of physical 
beauty. In "Don Juan," Byron, describing 
one of the Turk's houris in the harem, says: 

Was slumbering with soft breath, 
And lips apart, which show'd the pearls beneath, 

and another poet writes similarly : 

Those cherries fairly do enclose 
Of orient pearls a double row. 

Shelley confines his references to pearls almost 
entirely to descriptions of Nature dew-bedecked, 
as in the "Revolt of Islam," 

I sate with Cythna; drooping briony, pearled 
With dew from the mild streamlet's shattered wave, 

and another in "Prometheus Unbound" where 
the chorus of spirits sing: 

Nor aught save where some cloud of dew, 
Hangs each a pearl in the pale flowers 
Of the green laurel blown anew. 

343 



THE PEARL 

In "Arethusa" he uses them to enhance the 
idea of regal magnificence in these lines: 

Where the Ocean Powers 
Sit on their pearled thrones. 

The poets rarely refer to the gem as a symbol 
of spiritual attributes though it is peculiarly 
adapted by its natural qualities to illustrate 
purity, innocence, and other qualities of the 
human soul: nor is it often connected with 
religious ideas. Among the few, Andrew 
Marvell in his "Song of the Emigrants in 
Burmuda," avails himself of it somewhat 
prosaically thus, 

He cast (of which we rather boast) 
The Gospel's pearl upon our coast. 

One of the most poetically beautiful references 
ever made to the Ocean's modest jewel occurs 
in the "The Rosary" by Robert Cameron 
Rogers. 

The hours I spend with thee, dear heart, 

Are as a string of pearls to me; 
I count them over every one apart, 

My rosary. 
Each hour a pearl, each pearl a prayer, 

To still a heart in absence wrung; 
I tell each bead unto the end, and there 
A cross is hung. 

344 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

No poet has made more frequent allusion to 
pearls than Thomas Moore. His poems give 
evidence that he had read much of them in 
ancient writings and was alive to their poetic 
value. In his description of Ireland in "Fair- 
est! Put on Awhile," the lines — 

Lakes, where the pearl lies hid, 

And caves, where the gem is sleeping, 

were founded on the statements of Nennius, a 
British writer of the IXth century, concerning 
Irish pearls. In passing, it is worthy of notice 
that Nennius recorded also that the princes of 
Ireland hung them behind their ears ; a fashion 
similar to that of Persian and Athenian youth 
many centuries earlier. From Cardanus, Moore 
learned of the ancient fable that pearls were 
improved by leaving them awhile with doves, 
and utilizes the fancy in "A Dream of Antiq- 
uity" thus: 

As pearls, we're told, that fondling doves 
Have played with, wear a smoother whiteness. 

An early reference to the gem is found in his 
"Odes of Anacreon" No. XXII: 

Or even those envious pearls that show 
So faintly round that neck of snow 

345 



THE PEARL 

If this ode was really written by Anacreon, that 
poet must have been more familiar with pearls 
than some later Grecian writers. A similar 
idea quite as beautifully expressed occurs in 
"The Loves of the Angels." 

Then too the pearl from out its shell 

Unsightly, in the sunless sea, 
(As 'twere a spirit, forced to dwell 

In form unlovely) was set free, 
And round the neck of woman threw 
A light it lent and borrowed too. 

Unlike most of the poets, Moore does not 
describe the sparkling dew-drop as pearly and 
his references to tears of pearls include the 
idea of metamorphosis, as in "The Light of 
the Haram." 

And precious their tears as that rain from the sky, 
Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea. 

These lines embody the ancient Hindu super- 
stition which is also apparent in his ' 'Lines 
to :" 

Put off the fatal zone you wear, 

The shining pearls around it 
Are tears, that fell from Virtue there, 

The hour when Love unbound it. 

In his adoration of female beauty, he often 

holds the lustrous gem as a foil to the exceeding 

346 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

charms of woman, or to lift her to higher esteem 
by holding her, for preciousness, above the gem. 
Beyond all other things most lovely, only 
woman was lovelier yet. In "To weave a Gar- 
land for the Rose," he writes: 

Where is the pearl whose orient lustre 
Would not, beside thee, look less bright? 

And in one of the "Odes to Nea," he expresses 
the jealous regard of love thus : 

If I were yonder conch of gold 

And thou the pearl within it placed, 

I would not let an eye behold 

The sacred gem my arms embraced. 

Of the threads in which the woof of "The 
Genius of Harmony" is woven, there is one that 
sings thus to the passing of the shuttle: 

To the small rill, that weeps along 
Murmuring o'er beds of pearl. 

Betraying as he did so frequently in his poems, 
such a high regard for the pearl, it is somewhat 
curious that the gem was used descriptively 
in connection with himself. N. P. Willis, 
describing Thomas Moore as he met him at 
Lady Blessington's said of him, "His forehead 
shines with the lustre and smooth polish of a 
pearl," 

347 



THE PEARL 

Schiller takes the gem from the warm touch 
of human sentiment and builds it into a grand 
conception, poetical but untrue to Nature. 
In common with other poets, he credits the 
pearl with a play of color seldom found even 
to a limited degree though it does occur in the 
mother-of-pearl. In "Parables and Riddles," 
he describes the rainbow thus : 

A bridge of pearls its fabric weaves, 
A gray sea arching proudly over. 

In "The Celebrated Woman" he alludes twice 
to pearls; once when the husband, bemoaning 
the passage of his choice vintages down the 
throats of unappreciative celebrities, realizes 
that the only reward from his spouse for his 
endurance of it is, "sour looks — deep sighs." 
Because he has no stomach for her notables 
and their wit, she regrets — 

That such a pearl should fall to swine 

Later on the husband refers satirically to the 
meeting of "learned Dons and folks of fashion" 
at their resorts, where he says: 

All sorts of Fame sit cheek-by- jowl, 
Pearls in that string — the Table d'Hote. 

Few later writers have set the pearl in as wide 
348 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

a range of ideas or in language as beautiful as 
Edmund Spenser. The tears of Stella in "The 
Mourning Muse of Thestylis" are more precious 
and gem-like than those in any lines which have 
followed until now. In these lines they are 
priceless jewels royally set. 

And from those two bright starres to him sometime so 

deere, 
Her heart sent drops of pearle, which fell in foyson downe 
Twixt lilly and the rose. 

As a means to wake imagination to the physical 
charms of woman his use of the gem is equally 
happy and graceful, for there is always a soul 
in the flesh of his beauty as when he depicts 
the charms of a fair one in one of his " Sonnets." 

But fairest she, when so she doth display 
The gate with pearles and rubyes richly dight; 
Throgh which her words so wise do make their way 
To bear the message of her gentle spright. 

In another place he expresses the worship of 
his love in this fashion: 

For loe, my love doth in her selfe containe 

All this worlds riches that may farre be found; 

If Pearles, her teeth be Pearles, both pure and round. 

Several of his poems show the fashion of 
pearls in his day as for instance where he 

349 



THE PEARL 

describes the Scarlet Lady in "The Faerie 
Queene " as — 

A goodly Lady clad in scarlet red, 
Purfled with gold and pearle of rich assay. 

and Hymen in " Epithalamion " 



Her long loose yellow locks lyke golden wyre, 
Sprinckled with perle. 

There is a passing breath of spice-laden gales 
and the wonder magic of ships in far-off seas, 
carrying to perils and adventure men seeking 
the treasures of strange lands, while he tells in 
Virgil's Gnat of the shepherd's content: 

Ne ought the whelky pearles esteemeth hee, 
Which are from Indian seas brought far away. 

Poets are reminded not only of the teeth and 
neck of beauty by the luster of the pearl but 
of the forehead also. Whittier like Tennyson 
gives to woman a brow of pearl. In "Mem- 
ories ' ' the girl has — 

Eyes glad with smiles, and brow of pearl, 

and in "Stanzas," he places the beauty of flesh 
above that of the dainty jewel thus : 

O'er a forehead more pure than the Parian stone — 

Shaming the light of those Orient pearls 

Which bind o'er its whiteness thy soft wreathing curls. 

35° 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

Similarly Heinrich Heine in Longfellow's trans- 
lation of "The Sea hath its Pearls" says: 

And fairer than pearls and stars 
Flashes and beams my love. 

Probably in no poem is the pearl referred to so 
frequently or with so wide significance as in 
Whittier's "The Vaudois Teacher." The mis- 
sionary in his guise of peddler having obtained 
an audience with the fair chatelaine, while 
extolling his wares, says: 

And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose 

radiant light they vie. 

Naturally, this wisdom of the serpent with 
which his innocence was garnished brought 
favorable response: 

And the lady smiled on the worn old man through the 

dark and clustering curls, 
Which veiled her brow as she bent to view his silks and 

glittering pearls. 

After she had bought of his trinkets, the old 
teacher carefully introduces the covered object 
of his visit. 

Oh, lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer lustre flings, 
Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on the lofty 

brow of Kings, 
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue shall 

not decay. 

3Si 



THE PEARL 

This statement at once arouses a keen interest, 
for in those days great gems came from unex- 
pected sources and by unlikely hands and 
coming seldom, excited desire to an extent 
unknown in these abundant times. Glancing 
at the mirrored pearls in her own hair the 
lady says: 

Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou traveller 

gray and old — 
And name the price of thy precious gem, and my page 

shall count thy gold. 

Here is the golden opportunity of the zealot. 
From its place of concealment beneath the 
tempting wares in his pack he takes a shabby 
little book and gives it to her saying: 

Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it proove as 

such to thee, 
Nay — keep thy gold — I ask it not; for the Word of God 

is free! 

Nor does the religious mind of Whittier fail to 
remember the gates of pearl, for in "Ego" he 
speaks of 

The pearl gates of the Better Land. 

Carlyle makes reference to the gem in a line 

greater in conception and more poetic than most 

of those which occur in the rhymes of the 

352 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

poets — " She died in beauty, like a pearl dropped 
from some diadem." 

In Ruffini's " Dr. Antonio," man and woman 
are set in marriage as a foil and complement of 
each other though the metaphor shows some 
misunderstanding of the qualities of gems, for 
black diamonds are not as fiery as others. The 
lines are : 

The fiery black diamond casting lustre over the 
Oriental pearl: the Oriental pearl in return lending 
softness to the black diamond. 

Dryden does not forget pearls when he capari- 
sons the royal mighty and in "Palamon and 
Arcite" fitly thus describes Emetrius, King of 
Inde: 

His surcoat o'er his arms was cloth of Thrace, 
Adorned with pearls all orient, round and great. 

It is remarkable that so many poets have seen 
in the pearl a simile for raindrops and dew. 
Among them, Browning in the song from 
"Pippa Passes," sees — 

The hill -side's dew- pearled. 

At its best, the pearl is not luminous, neither 
does it flash nor sparkle: the quality of it is 
softly lustrous as of light that smolders; but 
23 353 



THE PEARL 

transferring by imagery the mist-white texture 
of dew when it is spread over leaf and grass 
blade, to the transparent dew-drop, poets see 
in the sparkling globule, which in the sun is of 
diamantine brilliancy, a simile of the pearl. 

In "By the Fireside" however, Browning 
creates a rain of pearls, a truer figure than 
pearly rain-drops : 

Break the rosary in a pearly rain, 
And gather what we let fall. 

The metaphors of Lowell are more true to the 
nature of the pearl and its characteristics than 
those of many poets. One, seldom used though 
most appropriate, occurs in "The First Snow 
Fall." 

And the poorest twig on the elm-tree 
Was ridged inch deep with pearl. 

Another instance of combined truth and poetry 
may be found in "An Invitation": 

A cloud Byzantium newly born, 

With flickering spires and dome of pearl. 

And in "Pictures from Appledore" the same 
poet in the embodiment of a delightful idea in 
words says of the moon: 

Rather to call it the canoe 
Hollowed out of a single pearl. 

354 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

In these illustrations, imagination is true to 
nature on either hand, for the beady ridges of 
the half melted or frozen snow on the tree 
twigs, the soft luster of a white cloud dome 
and the pale round moon, alike are character- 
ized by beauties which are pearly. In his more 
involved metaphor the same nice avoidance of 
incongruity is noticeable. Though raindrops 
are not pearly, the white fringe of a shore- 
driven wave is, which he notes in " Sea-Weed" : 

For the same wave that rims the Carib shore 
With momentary brede of pearl and gold. 

There is a hint of Cleopatra and Sir Thomas 
Gresham in his lines "To H. W. L." 

Let them drink molten pearls nor dream the cost; 

and in the lines from "Memoria Positum" 
there is an understanding of the processes by 
which the gem grows: 

This death hath far choicer ends 
Than slowly to impearl in hearts of friends ; 

and in the poetic fancy in " A Familiar Epistle to 
a Friend"— 

Old sorrows crystallized into pearls. 

Nor does he omit the time-honored custom of 
poets to place the gem among the chief jewels 

355 



THE PEARL 

of the great and in the mouth of beauty, for 
in "The Singing Leaves" he makes the King's 
eldest daughter ask of her royal father when he 
journeys : 

O, bring me pearls and diamonds great, 

and in " A Fable for Critics " he says : 

Your goddess of freedom, a tight, buxom girl, 
With lips like a cherry and teeth like a pearl. 

Bryant does not often allude to pearls, but in 
two instances, both in "The Flood of Years," 
they appear in beautiful setting. In the first: 

A beam like that of moonlight turns the spray 
To glistening pearls. 

Later on, describing the ocean of the past, he 
sees — 

Dim glimmerings of lost jewels, far within 
The sleeping waters, diamond, sardonyx, 
» Ruby and topaz, pearl and chrysolite. 

The general use of pearls in the barbaric splendor 
of the great in the days of Rome and Egypt 
and Persia, appears in Tasso's "Jerusalem 
Delivered." In the wizard's dwelling: 

Nor failed there urns of crystal, pearl, and gold, 

and, 

High on the Soldan's helm, in scales of pearl 
A rampant dragon grinn'd malignant things; 

and also, 

3 56 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

The Pastors of the flocks 
Have on their sacerdotal albs, which pass 
In front divided o'er their golden frocks, 
Clasp'd with aigraffes of pearl. 

In the review of the oriental hordes, Armida's 
car is thus described, 

Her car, that glorious as Aurora's roll'd, 

With rubies, pearls, and hyacinths glisten'd clear. 

Among those who passed the Egyptian prince, 
were: 

The Islanders with fleecy curls, 
Whose homes are compassed by th' Arabian waves; 
By whom those shells which breed the Persian pearls 
Are dived and fish'd for, in their green sea caves. 

The name of the gem is used in rare fashion in 
picturing the enchanted wood through which 
Rinaldo wanders: 

Impearl'd with manna was each fresh leaf nigh. 

And twice does the sweat of the human face 
become pearly in the poet's imagination: once 
when Armida watches Rinaldo sleeping: 

The living heat-dews that impearl'd his face, 
She with her veil wiped tenderly away. 

In the second instance, speaking of Armida, 
the poet says: 

She dies 
Of the sweet passion, and the heat that pearls, 
Yet more her ardent aspect beautifies. 

357 



THE PEARL 

Thomson sees pearls only in the dew-impearled 
earth, and one must admit, after looking upon 
the liquid globules hanging in rows from the 
spreading twigs of trees before the morning sun 
has found them in their shaded quarters, that 
the pendent spheres are suggestive, and that 
the poet's eye needs but little assistance from 
imagination to see in them the soft round gems 
of the ocean. 

In all ages, prose and fiction have treated of 
pearls as a form of exceeding preciousness and a 
chief evidence of high station and barbaric 
splendor. The lute of poetry has held few 
additional strings. Modern writers have added 
little to the imaginations of the ancients. All 
the changes made by successive poets have been 
rung on the tears, dew-drops, and beauty's 
teeth, handed down from long ago. 

The wide ranges of the pearl's modest worth, 
exalted purity, and singular beauty, yet remain 
to illustrate the thoughts of future genius. 
Imagination has not yet brooded often over the 
humble and distorted creatures, whose gnarled 
and twisted forms, lying among their myriad 
shapely brethren are evidence of a precious 
358 



PEARLS IN LITERATURE 

sacrifice of self to leave a heritage of beauty; 
nor dreamed of the silent acres under turbulent 
waters where the gem, one day to adorn the 
neck of beauty or the diadem of royalty, is 
reared. What play for imagination lies between 
the birth of this creation of one of the humblest 
of Earth's creatures, and the high placement 
to which it rises as soon as it is discovered. 

There are deserted wastes of sand and water 
under torrid skies, populated almost momen- 
tarily with teeming multitudes whose jargon 
fills the former silences with a world wide 
medley of tongues. As in a dream, the trem- 
ulous air is stirred by the struggling movement 
of naked slaves, turbanned orientals, men from 
all lands of the Occident, the moving throng 
weaving constantly new patterns from the 
variegated colors and fantastic costumes of liv- 
ing threads. And everywhere, beneath the 
prosaic motion of labor and trading, is the 
quiver of hope, the excitement of the gambler ; 
the poetry of human passions, unseen, but felt. 

There are in unfrequented seas, where some 
lonely atoll draws its circle round a still lagoon, 
treasures greater than its cargo and the stately 

359 



THE PEARL 

ship sailing heedless by. So like the undiscov- 
ered pearls of the ocean's bed, the universe 
holds an exhaustless store of thoughts and 
truths for those who come after the discoverers 
of this age. Thought runs in grooves and the 
grooves outlast many generations; scarcely in 
a cycle does one look over the ridge and find a 
species foreign to the rut. 

Within the walls which the past builds for 
the present it is more easy to adopt than to 
bring forth, and so the ancient metaphors, age 
after age, are with some changes of raiment 
thrown back upon the world again. But in 
this new era of acquisition, while this sea-gem 
is again lifted to the serene heights of most 
exalted favor, perhaps it will not only shine 
upon the persons of the fair, but adorn, in 
simile and metaphor as beautiful as the old, 
the pages of romance and poetry. 



3 6o 



GLOSSARY 



GLOSSARY 



Abalone. — Name given on the California coast and in 

the United States to the Haliotis. 
Ball-Pearl. — Name given to round pearls by pearlers at 

the inland fisheries of the United States. 
Baroque. — A pearly formation of irregular shape. 
Base. — A basic price, subject to the square of the pearl's 

weight. 

Baskets. — Brass sieves used in India for separating 
pearls of different sizes. 

Black-Shell. — Pearl oyster shells of which the nacreous 
lining has a black edge. 

Blister. — A piece of the mother-of-pearl lining of a 
pearl-oyster shell, raised above the surface like a 
blister. 

Bluebacks. — Shell of a variety of Haliotis. 

Blue-Pearls. — Dark, slaty blue-white pearls, principally 
from the Mexican coast. 

Bombay Pearls. — Fine pearls from the Arabian and Red 
Seas, so named because marketed through that city. 

Button Pearls. — Shaped like a dome, high or low, 
rising from a plane and called "high buttons," 
"buttons" or "low buttons," accordingly. 

Clammer. — One who fishes for mussels by dredging for 
the shells principally. 

Dead Pearls. — Pearls with a chalky or waxy skin having 
little or no luster. 

Dress. — Diving apparatus consisting of a one piece dress 
from the neck down, corselet, helmet, air-pipes and 
life-line. 

Drop-Pearl. — Ovoid, or obovoid, not necessarily of per- 
fect shape. 

Drilled Pearls. — Pearls with one hole for setting on 
peg, or quite through the centre for stringing. Chinese 
drill two or three small holes half way between cir- 
cumference and bottom, for holding- wires. 

3 6 3 



THE PEARL 

Egg Pearls. — Ovoid: shaped like an egg. 

Flat. — In connection with price quotation means, price 

per grain regardless of size. 
Fresh-Water Pearls. — Pearls taken from inland 

streams. 
Green Ears. — Shell of Haliotis having green mother-of- 
pearl lining. 
Half Pearls. — Round pearls sawed in half. 
Helmet. — Diving head-gear. 
Lingahs. — Pearl oyster shells from the Arabian Sea and 

others of similar size and quality. 
Madras Pearls. — Fine white pearls from the Ceylon 

fisheries, so called because marketed principally in 

that city. 
Manul. — Loose or soft sand sea-botton (Ceylon). 
Multiple. — Price of pearls subject to the multiple of 

weight. 
Mussel-Egg. — Name given to pearls by Tennesseans. 
Nacre. — The substance of which pearls and the lining of 

pearl-shells consists. 
Naked Diving. — Diving without any appliances. 
Orient. — As applied to pearls, the luster of the skin. 
Oriental Pearls. — Generally, pearls from salt water; 

specifically, pearls from the Indian Seas. 
Ounce Pearls. — Poor grades sold by the ounce. 
Paar. — Ceylon name for rock or hard bottom oyster- 
bed. 
Pearler. — One who fishes for mussels for the pearls. 
Pear-Shape. — Shaped like a pear; obovoid. 
Peeler. — A pearl with an imperfect skin, the removal 

of which would improve the pearl. 
Red-Ears. — Abalone shell with pearly red interior. 
Rose-Pearls. — Pink, iridescent, fresh-water baroques. 
Seed-Pearls. — Very small round pearls. 
Slugs. — Nacreous excrescences from the Unio. 
Skin. — As applied to pearls, the outer layer of nacre. 
Square. — Method of reckoning the cost of a pearl of any 

size at a lot price, by the square of price given, with 

the grain as a unit. 

3 6 4 



GLOSSARY 

Strawberry-Pearls. — Large, pink, iridescent and 
lustrous baroques, fairly regular in shape, with the 
appearance of being thickly sanded under the nacre. 

Sweet-Water Pearls. — Pearls from fresh-water. 

True-Pearls. — Pearls formed of nacre as distinguished 
from similar formations which are not nacreous. 

Twinned-Pearls. — Pearls enveloped together in one or 
more layers of nacre. 

White-Shell. — Pearl-oyster shells with nacre white to 
the edge. 

Yellow-Shell. — Pearl-oyster shells with yellowish nacre. 



36S 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 

OF PEARLS AND SHELLS 

FROM THE VARIOUS FISHERIES 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 

OF PEARLS AND SHELLS 

FROM THE VARIOUS FISHERIES 



Arabian Sea. — Pearls have fine orient, but the color in- 
clines to yellow. 
Shells are larger than those of Ceylon but of little 
value for mother-of-pearl: iridescent, black edge 
m. of p. ; known as Lingahs. 
Aroe. — Pearls usually good orient; many of irregular 
shape. 
Shells are of medium size, black edge and irides- 
cent. 
Auckland. — Pearls white, but not remarkable for luster. 

Shells, medium size, black edge m. of p. 
Australia. — Pearls of Australia generally are of good 
color, but not as lustrous as those of other sec- 
tions. 
Shells usually large and heavy and the nacre is white. 

Band as. — Pearls good. 

Shells are small but heavy and good; black to green- 
ish edge nacre. 
Ceylon. — Pearls average finest in the world for orient 
and color. 

Shells, small and valueless for m. of p. 
Costa Rica.— Pearls good average. 

Shells, medium size, greenish yellow edge. 
Egyptian (Red Sea).— Pearls good but run yellow. 

Shells, medium size and nacre has greenish edge. 
Fiji. — Practically the same as the Bandas. 
Gambier. — Pearls good, many fancy colors. 

Shells, large, fine nacre with very black edge. 
Haiti. — Pearls fine, shells good. 
369 



THE PEARL 

Manilla. — (Includes Batjan, Bima, Ceram, Salawatti, 
Sooloo, etc.) Pearls, good color and orient. 
Shells, large, good, yellow edge nacre. 
Merguian Archipelago. — Pearls and shells similar to 

the Manillas. 
Mexico and Panama. — Pearls fair; blacks, grays and 
fancy colors often fine. 
Shells, medium size: nacre has greenish edge. 
South Sea Islands. — Pearls usually fine. 

Shells generally large, heavy and fine black edge 
m. of p. 
Venezuela. — Pearls, good luster and color — many fine 
baroques. 
Shells: small, beautifully iridescent, but valueless. 

Pearls. 

Hardness, 3.5 — 4 Sp. Gr., 1.59 — 1.62 

Composition. 

Carbonate of Lime 91-72 

Organic matter 5.94 

Water 2.34 



37° 



INDEX 



Abalone, 92, 170, 199, 244. 

Acapulco, 203. 

Advance of price, 277. 

Aelonians, 93. 

Alexander, 50. 

Ancient fisheries, 212. 

Angel's tears, 315. 

Anselm, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 49. 

Aquila Jewels, 85. 

Arabian Sea, 49, si, 201. 

Aragonite, 167. 

Aripo, 219. 

Arkansas, discovery of pearls in, 
259. 

Aroo Islands, 199, 202. 

Aryans, 64. 

Atokha, Virgin of, 329. 

Auris Marina, 246. 

Aurora Shells, 246. 

Australia, 201, 249. 

Avicula fucata, 127. 

squamulosa, 127, 239. 

B 

Bagdad, 213. 
Bahamas, 9s. 
Bahrein, 212. 
■ Ball pearl, 44. 
Banda Islands, 202. 
Baroques, 82, 91, iss, 161. 
Base price, 276. 
Baskets, 228. 
Batjan, 200. 

Bazaruto Islands, 200, 233. 
Beira, 233. 

Beresford Hope pearl, 3241 326- 
Black Shell, 144. 



Blister, 92. 

Blue-point, 268. 

Bochart, 57. 

Bones, pearls called, 50, 61. 

Boss, 140. 

Breastplate, Jewish High Priest's 

56, 61. 
Breeding of pearls, 312. 
Brown pearls, 329. 
Bull-head, 266. 
Butterfly, 268. 
Byssus, 243. 

C 

Cacique, 76. 

Calcospherules, 154. 

Caligula, 52. 

Campeche, Gulf of, 241. 

Cape San Lucas, 242. 

Cariaco, Gulf of, 238. 

Castiglione necklace, 84. 

Catifa, 326. 

Celebrated Pearls, 324. 

Ceram, 200. 

Cestodes, 173. 

Chank, 15, 98. 

Charles V., 47. 

Charlotte Bay, 249. 

Cheval paar, 221. 

Chilaw pearl banks, 219. 

Chiriqui, 237. 

Chunam, 231. 

Clammers, 262, 282. 

Clam pearls, 97. 

Cleopatra's pearl, 52, 320, 326. 

Clinch River, 260, 263. 

Clione, 154. 

Clodius, 52, 327. 

Coatzacoalcos, 241. 



371 



THE PEARL 



Coche, 238. 
Colombia, 236, 241. 
Color of pearls, 101. 
Columbus, 46. 
Conch, 16, 94. 
Conchiolin, 133. 
Cortez, 46, 242. 
Cracked pearls, 119, 301. 
Crotalia, 53, 80. 
Cubagua, 46, 238. 
Culture pearls, 299. 

D 

Dahlak, 212. 

Dasyus, 64. 

Death of Pearls, 316. 

Deer-hom, 267. 

De Soto, 46, 47, 76. 

Devadatta, 98. 

Dew-drop origin of P., 311. 

Diamonds, 44, 56, 70. 

Diving, Dress, 178, 188, 192. 

Naked, 178. 
Dredging, 282. 
Dress, 189. 
Dudley pearls, 329. 
Dutch Indies, 200, 232. 



Ear of Venus, 93. 
Ear-shell, 93, 245. 
Ecuador, 203, 237. 
Edward VII., 82. 
Elenchi, 80. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 48. 
El Tirano, 237. 
Exmouth Gulf, 249. 



Facts and Fancies, 311. 

Farsan, 212. 

Fiji Islands, 202. 

File-fish, 174. 

Fisheries, Arabian Sea, 212. 

Ancient, 201, 255. 

Australian, 194, 202, 249. 



Fisheries, British, 255. 

Campeche, gulf of, 241. 

Ceylon, 201, 215, 289. 

Colombia, 237, 241. 

Dutch Indies, 232. 

Ecuador, 237. 

English, 242. 

German East Africa, 234. 

Haiti, 248. 

Indian, 214. 

Irish, 255. 

La Paz, 242. 

Lower California, 242. 

Madras, 215. 

Merguian archipelago, 201, 
234. 

Mexican, 242. 

New Caledonia, 234. 

Nicaragua, 236. 

Omagh, 256. 

Panama, 237. 

Persian Gulf, 212. 

Philippines, 248. 

Portuguese East Africa, 233. 

Red Sea, 211. 

Scotch, 236. 

So. African, 237. 

Venezuela, 237, 239. 
Fishing, Ceylon gov't notifica- 
tion, 221. 

Depth of, 223, 232. 

Mexican, Season of, 243. 

U. S. mussel, 258. 

Polynesian, 183. 

primitive method, 179. 

time under water, 223. 

Tongarewa Islands, 186. 

with dress, 188. 

prices realized, 227, 289. 
Flodden Field, 320. 
Fluter mussel, 260. 
Francis I., 48. 
Fresh- water pearls, 90. 

a 

Gambier, 199, 203 328. 
Genesis of Pearls, 127. 



372 



INDEX 



Gilbert,. Bishop of Limerick, 49 
Goajira, 239. 

siTiment Notification, 221. 
Gresnam, Sir Thomas, 48, 321. 
Guatemala, 242. 
Guayaquil, 237, 287. 
Gulf of California, 203. 

Campeche, 204, 241. 
Gwaai River, 257. 

H 

Habitat of oysters and mussels, 

199. 
Haiti, 205, 248. 
Haliotis, 16, 93, 206, 244. 

cracherodii, 247. 

iris, 246. 

mida, 246. 

rufescens, 247. 

splendens, 247. 

tuberculata, 245. 
Heel-splitter, 268. 

I 

Ichiaha, 76. 

Illinois, discovery of pearls, 259. 
Imitation pearls, 295. 
Imperfections, 11 1. 
Incas, 44, 46, 76. 
Inhambane, 200. 
Interference, 130. 
Iridescence, 130. 



Jamboneau, 235. 

James IV., 320. 

Japan, 202. 

Jolo, 248. 

Julius Caesar, 52, 81, 256, 327. 

K 



Kalanchu, 231. 
Katar, 212. 
Kshattriya, 27, 64. 



Lampsilis anodontoides, 267. 

fallaciosus, 267. 

ligamentinus, 267. 

rectus, 267. 
La Pellegrina, 324, 326. 
La Paz, 242. 
La Peregrina, 324, 327. 
Largest Pearl, 326. 
Lesbos, 50. 
Lingah, 201, 212. 
Lohia, 2ir. 
Lollia Pollena, 52. 
Loreto, 242. 
Louis XIII., 49. 
Lower California, 242. 

M 

Macanao, 238. 

Macassar, 233. 

Madura, 215. 

Mafia, 206, 234. 

Malabar, 63, 179. 

Manaar, 216. 

Manchadi, 231. 

Manduck, 179. 

Mantle, 132. 

Maracaibo, 239. 

Margarita, 238. 

Maria Theresa, 49. 

Marichchikaddi, 221. 

Mary Queen of Scots, 48. 

Massawa, 211. 

Mathilde, Princess, 84. 

Maturity of Pearl Oysters, 205. 

Mazatlan, 242. 

Meleagrina, 90, 127. 

Merguian Archipelago, 200, 234. 

Methods of Fishing, 177. 

Mindanao, 248. 

Montezuma, 46. 

Moros, 182. 

Mother-paar, 219. 

Mounds, Indian, 40, 45. 76. 257. 

Mucket, 266. 



373 



THE PEARL 



Mud blisters, 92. 

Multiple, 276. 

Mussel, 90, 257. 

Mussel-egg, 43, 116. 

Mussel Anodonta herculea, 297. 

blue- point, 268. 

bull head, 266. 

butterfly, 268. 

deer-horn, 267. 

fluter, 260. 

Hatchet-back, 268. 

heel-splitter, 268. 

Lake, 260. 

margaritifera, 255. 

mucket, 266. 

nigger-head, 266. 

painter's, 255. 

pearl, 255. 

red, 234. 

swollen-river, 255. 

sand-shell, 267. 

warty-back, 266. 

wash-board, 260. 
Mutton-fish, 245. 
Mytilene, 50. 

N 

Nassau pearls, 96. 

Nautillus, 16. 

New Caledonia, 172, 202, 234. 

New Guinea, 202. 

Nicaragua, 204. 

Nigger-head, 136, 266. 

Nomenclature, 56. 

Notch Brook pearl, 258, 330. 

Nuclei of pearls, 153, 174, 272. 

O 

Oahu, 206. 

Ohio pearls, 258. 

Old Testament reference, 56. 

Omagh, 49, 256. 

Oriental pearls, 89. 

Origin of pearls (fables), 311. 

Ormer, 93, 246. 



Painter's mussel, 255. 
Panama, 203. 
Paraguana, 239. 
Parasites, 174. 
Pearls, Abalone, 92, 156. 

assortment of, 228. 

baroque, 155. 161, 279. 

black, 97, 105. 

blister, 92. 

blue, 104, 278. 

Bombay, 213. 

button, 155, 160. 

clam, 97, 156. 

colors of, 101. 

conch, 94, 156. 

cracked, 119. 

culture, 298. 

fancy, 105, 202. 

free, is 4. 

fresh-water, 89, 90, 279. 

hammered, 120. 

hinge, 91. 

imitation, 29s. 

Japan, 298. 

Madras, 102, 215, 277. 

Nassau, 96. 

oriental, 89. 

Panama, 104, 204. 

pear-shape, 80, 161. 

rose, 91. 

seed, 231. 

Shah of Persia, 326. 

slugs, 280. 

soft, 116. 

strawberry, 91. 

true, 89. 

twinned, 159. 

wing, 91, 280. 
Pearl-Oysters, 199. 
Pearlers, 262, 282. 
Peelers, ns, 248, 302. 
Peeling pearls, 115, 302. 
Periya paar, 220. 
Persian Gulf, 50, 201. 
Perthshire Tay pearls, 256. 



374 



INDEX 



Peru, 46, 204. 

Philip II., 241. 

Pinna, 16, 206, 235. 

Plagiola securis, 268. 

Pleurobena sesopus, 266. 

Pliny, 52, 54, 66. 

Polynesians, 183. 

Pope Leo X. pearl, 328. 

Price of pearls, 27s. 

Punta de Santa Cristoval, 243. 



Quadrula ebena, 266. 

pustulosa, 266. 

undulata, 268. 
Queen pearl, 330. 



Rana of Dholpur, 78. 
Ravaillac, 320. 
Red Current, 253. 
Red Sea, 51, 200. 
Rhodesia, Southern, 206. 
Rio, Hacha, 237. 
Roman fashions, 80, 342. 
Rose pearls, 91, 266. 

S 

Sandalchin, 57. 

Sandaztros, 57. 

Sand-shells, 267. 

San Juan del Norte, 236. 

Season for mussel fishing, 270. 

Seed pearls, 231. 

Shankar, 15, 31. 

Shangani River, 257. 

Shankhasura, 98. 

Sharks Bay, 249. 

Shark charmer, 224. 

Shell Australian, 145, 202. 

black, 144, 199, 202. 

bullock, 204, 236. 

distorted, 172, 252. 

Egyptian, 200. 

grayish, 145, 200. 

greenish, 145, 211. 

Lingah, 212. 



Shell Mexican, 204. 

Panama, 204, 236. 

Port Darwin, 249. 

price of, 235, 251, 270, 290. 

red- ears, 206. 

Sydney, 249. 

Tuamotu, 170, 200. 

Unio, 136, 200, 211. 

Venezuelan, 200. 

West Australian, 249. 

white, 145, 171. 

yellow, 145, 200. 

young, 205. 
Shoulder of mutton, 235. 
Sir Thomas Gresham, 48, 328. 
Sleeping Lion, 328. 
Slugs, 280. 
Soliman Pearl, 328. 
Sophie, Queen, 84. 
Southern Rhodesia, 206, 257. 
Spat, 169. 

Spawning time, 271. 
Spice Islands, 202. 
Spiritu Santo, 46. 
Spruce, John, 284. 
Strawberry pearls, 91, 266. 
Strombus gigas, 94, 206. 
Sugar River, 264. 
Sulu Islands, 202, 248. 
Superstitions, 181, 311.* 
Suran, 253. 

Sweet-water pearls, 90, 279- 
Swollen River mussel, 255. 
Symphynota complanata, 268. 



Tahiti, 203. 
Tampa Bay, 46. 
Targum, 57. 
Tavernier, 49, 325. 
Tiburon, 242. 
Tinnevalli, 215. 
Tongarewa Islands, 186. 
Travancore, 25, 98. 
Tremellius, 5 7- 
Tritigonia verrucosa, 267. 



375 



THE PEARL 



True pearls, 89. 

Tuamotu Archipelago, 200, 203. 

Turbinella Scolymus, 98. 

Turtle-backs, 92. 

Tuticorin, 215. 

U 
Umbo, 139. 

Unio, 90, 127, 136, 206. 
Unit of weight, 276. 



Variation in weight of P., 241. 

Varieties, 89. 

Venezuela, 96, 237. 

Venus ear-shell, 16, 93, 245. 

Venus Genetrix, 81. 

Veragua, 237. 

Vishnu, 15, 98. 



W 

Warty-back, 266. 

Weight of mussel shells, 269. 

meat, 269. 
Westphalia Queen necklace, 84. 
White bones, so, 61. 
White shell, 145, 199. 
Wisconsin pearls, 259. 



X Rays, 231. 

Y 
Yellow shells, 200. 

Z 
Zanzibar, 200, 234. 



376 



